Into the dark and forward unto dawn
by Ipods-and-buds-1239
Summary: His moment, come and gone, his life, turned meaningless. His friends, his family and the love of his life betrayed him for another. As his days slowly draw to a close, hope remains. But to earn a second chance and regain a new meaning, he must explore his ancestry and Reach for the stars. A Chaos story, Book 1 of a series.
1. Introductions

**Into the Dark and Forward unto Dawn.**

By Chaotix1239

Disclaimer: I do not have the privilege of owning "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" that right belongs to Rick Riordan. Nor do I own "Halo" as that right belongs to

Microsoft and 343 studios. Thank you.

(A.N. This is my first FanFic so please go easy on me, and tell me if you like it. If you don't, please review and offer constructive criticism about how I can make this better and if you are wondering, Percy's Spartan armor includes a Hayabusa helmet, Jump Jet armor on both shoulders, gungnir chest armor, gungnir knee armor with black being the primary color and dark blue the secondary color.

His moment, come and gone, his life, flew by him. His friends, his family and the love of his life betrayed him for another. As his days slowly draw to a close, hope remains. But to earn a second chance and regain a new meaning, he must explore his ancestry and Reach for the stars.

Chapter One: Introduction's (Percy's point of view)

It's funny; you never realize how good you have it until it's gone. Some learn this through losing a precious object, others falling from a life of luxury. I learned this lesson the hard way. I lost my _life_, my purpose. I defeated the evil, protected the good, gave it my all. And what do I get in return? I got stabbed in the back, betrayed by the people I trusted. Cast away like a second hand object. But worst of all? I was framed for a crime I didn't commit, a crime I would never commit. The murder of my cousin, Nico Di'Angelo.

But that was then and this is now. I traded that life for this one. And I promised myself, "Never again". Every second I travel, every second spent in this seat, aboard this U.N.S.C. warthog, is a second towards a new life. My body tenses with anticipation. And as I look into the blue visor of my black mark VI hayabusa helmet, I can only think. This is my new life, this is who I am.

"Sir, Sir" a marine said, shaking my shoulder, wrenching me out of my painful memories, "We have reached our destination".

As I stepped out of the warthog, I instantly surveyed my settings. A dirt path carved it's way through the base. Buildings, including a command center and a barracks, lined the road. A couple of warthogs were parked outside a two-story garage, farther down the road I could see a Hexagonal, two story building. My mission objective was painted over it and I thought, "Almost there, my new world, the start of my new life."

As I walked towards the objective, I caught many people staring at me, some with awe and respect, others, dumbfounded. Most with a look of jealousy and loathing. But I ignored them all. As I got closer, I noticed pair of Falcons, undergoing diagnostics scans and basic functions, their pilots sitting patiently in their cockpits. A sniper, Spartan that I was sure of, sat on the skids of the bird. She wore green scout sniper armor, a three was on her left collar. She was absorbed in patiently reloading the magazine of a sniper rifle; said rifle was propped up on her left. As I walked past, she looked up, regarded me, did a subtle "double take" then went back to her task. As I neared the entrance I stopped and gathered my thoughts. This is it, all this training; all the time I put in has lead up to this moment. It's now or never. But I won't back down, not when I'm this close. I won't lose again.

I entered the base and surveyed my surroundings and knew I had just stepped into the middle of a briefing. A laptop sat on a rectangular table in the middle of the room. Tables lined the sides of the room, one of which was covered with poker cards. But what made my first impression was the inhabitants. Five Spartans sat at various tables, focusing on various tasks, not really paying attention to the briefing, as they knew the chief would personally retell the briefing to them later. As soon as I stepped into the room all eyes turned to me, but before I could introduce myself a hand stopped me. It's owner turned to the one man actually paying attention at the briefing and said quietly "Commander".

From that moment I knew I had their full attention. The man on the computer, who my visor quickly identified as Colonel Holland, turned to the commander and stated quickly "Well I better leave you to introductions, I want that relay online and functional by dinner tonight and a report on my desk tomorrow, Commander. Holland out." The commander closed the computer.

"Well don't just stand there", the commander spat, "spit it out, who are you." I honestly don't know anymore but I saluted and replied "Sir Noble six, here to serve with noble team, Sir."

"That's a mouthful" a Spartan muttered "Got a call sign?"

"Sir, Shadow, Sir." I stated, thinking the name fit perfectly, a shadow of my old self. "Fitting" the Spartan who stopped me, whom I realized was a girl, muttered. "Welcome to the team Shadow, now listen up. We lost contact with Visegrad relay a while ago and sent the marines to investigate. We just lost contact. At 0600 hours P.M. we set out, fix the relay, locate the missing troupers and find out the cause of this mess. Dismissed."

I walked up to the commander and shock his hand. "Welcome to Noble."

"It's an honor sir."

That's "Kat"; He pointed to the girl that stopped me, who was now shuffling out the door with the rest of the Spartans. She wore sky blue air assault armor with a two on it and a tack pad adorned her wrist. "Emile"; he gestured to a man waiting at the door, wearing red and green armor covered in various utilities and a kukri knife hung on his left shoulder next to a number four. His E.V.A. helmet was carved with what looked like a skull. "Jorge"; he gestured to a mountain of a man, 6 ft 11in _at least, _covered in yellow E.O.D. armor with a five on it, with a helmet fully encased in a blast shield. "2, 4, and 5. As for me, I'm Carter, noble one." He gestured to himself. He wore navy blue commando armor and had the pose of a sword fighter; relaxed yet vigilant, ready to spring at the first sign of trouble. "Don't forget," he ordered as we made or way out the door, to where 4 and the sniper were. Like I would ever forget it, I'm not going to screw this up like _last time._ "I read your file kid, even the stuff the "Spooks" didn't want me two. Glad to have your skillset, but that lone wolf stuff stays behind."

"This our new number six?" the sniper asked?

"Yes this is Shadow, noble six, this is June, Noble 3."

"Welcome to Reach."

'Well the start if my new life' I thought as the helicopter lifted of, and this time, I won't back down. This time, I'm prepared. This time, I make my own path. I'll make you proud dad.'

Far up into the heaven's, Chaos, the creator watched. "I know you will." He whispered.

A.N. And that's a rap! I had this story in my head for ages, so I took it from the head and put it on paper! Please review, if you like say why and if you don't, offer _constructive criticism _saying why. I'll update in one two or three weeks, (maybe sooner, depending on reviews). By the way, I am very sorry but I have posted this before, but someone hacked my file and deleted the story. So I changed my name from Chaotix1239 to Ipods-and-Buds-1239. Sorry for the incident and sorry to my old readers. Thank you!


	2. Revelations

**Into the Dark and Forward unto Dawn.**

Reveiws:

WingGundamZero98: Thanks for the positive advice and to answer your question, in this story, Percy is Noble 6, meaning he will follow the story from beginning to end, with every bit in between. Thanks for being my number 1 reviewer!

Edboy4296: Thanks for the positive advice and by the way, all the characters will die. I'll be blunt. However, they aren't the original noble team, as you'll see in the following chapter, meaning while they die in one world, they might return to another one. That's all I'll say. By the way, all your stories are videogames, do you read Percy Jackson?

A.N. All right tons of positive review, with some nice comments and constructive criticism and tons of views. Thanks guys. All right before I begin I gotta make a couple things clear, 1) I don't own an Xbox or a Halo game. I like the books though. 2) I didn't realize Bungie wasn't a faction of Microsoft anymore. Now I know thanks to an anonymous review and I'm very grateful for this information. Now the main reason I like halo is 1) I love the books and 2) I played the Halo reach campaign with a friend. I love these stories and I do intend to add Chaos so if you don't like that fact/idea go somewhere else. Please tell me what you think of the new developments, I intend to do a 3-5 part series depending on success, tell me what you think. Thanks!

IPods and Buds 1239

And now, onto the story!

Revelations (Nico)

I spent most of the journey on the Falcon thinking about my old life. I guess this was brought up by Shadow, him having a new beginning and a new cause. Much like me, after my death at the hands of those murderers, those "People" that killed me and left the blame for Percy, who comforted me in my final moments. It also brought the memories of Chaos forward, how he recruited me and gave me new purpose.

As I sat in my seat, well into the final length of the journey, I cast a sidelong glance at the new recruit. Jorge caught my gaze and signaled me on a private channel. "So what do you think of the new recruit" I questioned, right off the bat. "Looks like the average Spartan, but then again, looks _can _be deceiving." "I wonder what Kat read on his file?" I wondered. "Well, I could tell you the parts that weren't covered in black ink" Kat interrupted.

I double tacked and from the corner of my eye, I'm guessing Jorge did the same thing. "Kat, how did you…" I started but again she interrupted. "Technician, remember, my job is fixing _and _hacking into machinery." She thought for a second. "That includes channels," she added. "Enough chit-chat" Jorge cut in, "But what were you saying about his file?"

"I couldn't read it all, almost half of the file was classified, and ONI deleted all the combat records." She stated. "From what I got, he's a lone wolf, works on his own. Very cloak and dagger. He's never failed a mission. This is his first time being assigned to a unit." She informed us. "He excels at marksmanship, close quarters combat, piloting, the whole package. Works almost exclusively for the Spook's. It's beyond me on how ONI wasn't able to keep their private "Grim Reaper" out of enlistment for Noble."

"Impressive" I muttered under my breath. "You don't know the half of it." Kat answered, and I could have sworn she was smiling. Carter Signaled us for a channel and simultaneously we joined. "All right Noble, here's the situation, the Visegrad relay station stopped transmitting last night and we've lost contact with the nearby town, we sent in marine Delta company last night, the squadron has since been declared M.I.A. We are going to make our way towards the relay, rendezvous with the Delta company and get Visegrad back online, any questions?" Silence answered him.

"Alright," Carter continued, "Noble I want a bounding movement, June hang make, remain on over watch, stay in the falcon, everyone else follow me."

Just then the Falcons landed, everyone, excluding June piled out as the falcons ascended, Falcon 1 carrying June hovered above us while Falcon 2 went on reconnaissance, its radar on full power as it attempted to find the missing marines. With carter leading the way, I readied my assault rifle and checked the shell amount in my shotgun. 'Strange weapons, guns,' I thought to myself, 'nothing like swords but they get the job done.'

"Noble 1, I'm picking up a small smoke plume on your left, advising that you investigate." June said, shattering my thoughts. "Advice recognized noble 3, we are approaching the plume now. We moved closer, and I mentally prepared myself. "What's the source?" June asked.

Zoe's POV

I looked through my scope, feeling the custom made grip and shuddered, 'how I long for my bow.' As much as I loved the reach and power of the sniper rifle, my memories of the bow and arrow were to wonderful, to beautiful to push aside, Oh my Lady Artemis, how I long for the company of the hunt.'

Thinking of my mistress brought pleasant but distracting memories, everything from my death to Chaos's recruitment. He promised I would see her again, see me family again, if I committed my skills to his cause, in modern words, join his army.

Carter's response soon followed. "The source of the plume appears to be a burned out warthog, standard issue, there's no bodies, no bullet holes, nothing." These words haunted me, bringing back memories of our long campaign against the Covenant and how many of these abominations littered the battlefields of ruined planets. "Plasma maybe." Emile suggested, only confirming my fears.

"Can't be. Not here. Not on Reach." Jorge groaned. Out of all of Noble, Jorge had been facing these vile creatures for the longest period of time.

"Found something." The falcon hovered over the remains of the warthog, and I saw Emile digging through the wreckage. He pulled out a red ovular shape, a mark IV distress beacon. He threw it to Kat, who eagerly inspected the device.

"The outside appears largely intact," Kat started her analysis and pulled out a small knife and cut through it like tissue paper, "but the inside is scorched, probably with plasma, this was turned and I can see finger prints, from what I'm not sure, and evidence that this was hacked into and destroyed." Shadow whistled, "How does she do that?" Judging from her body language, Kat smirked "You get a masters degree in technological warfare, you'll be able to do the same thing."

This Shadow, everything from his stance, not unlike Carter's, to his voice felt somewhat familiar.

"Enough chit chat," Carter barked, "June, what's our next destination?" I looked around, scanning the horizon and saw the outline of a small house "I see a possibility of a house, keep going in you direction and take a right, it's just along the cliff line, you can't miss it.

Carter looked up then nodded, then darted of at the even pace of 30 miles an hour, a light jog for a Spartan. Shadow followed immediately behind, then Emile and Jorge, then Kat, still distracted by the distress beacon, which was placed in a backpack for further inspection at a later time.

"Long drop, isn't it." Emile said, in his own, mortifying, sort of way. "Sadist." I muttered under my breath, if Emile heard, he didn't respond.

"Keep moving," Carter ordered, "Almost there." Since we were in view of the village, I scoped it out and looked at the main building, town hall apparently, considering the signs, which had been fortified, with wood boards and tables pushed up against windows and doors. The building itself looked like it had been in a battle, it's walls burned and riddled with bullet holes. On a hunch I switched to thermal, which confirmed my suspicions.

"Carter, I'm detecting possible hostiles inside town hall."

Carter paused momentarily then used hand signals to move the team around, with Emile and Shadow on each side of the main doors, Jorge directly in front, setting down his own invention, the Mobile Bipod, quite like a camera stand albeit with a massive chain gun on top, and himself and Kat posed in the distance, pistol and DMR at the ready.

"Open for UNSC authorities," Carter yelled, "I said OPEN FOR UNSC AUTHORITIES!" at this a middle aged main wearing a bonnie cap and a black sweatshirt and Khaki jeans, opened the door quickly and put his hands up, showing he was unarmed.

"O Deo gratias incipit, quaeso, sunt animalia recessit?" (1.)

"MOVE, ON YOUR KNEES!" Emile yelled, raising the shotgun, obviously frightening the stranger, it didn't help that he was 6'1 with armor or a chain gun wielded by a behemoth pointed at him, its laser sight settling calmly on his head.

Last night, we were attacked "Relax gentleman, there not rebels, there farmers," Kat said raising he arms and standing in front of them, "this is a farming village, I can translate what they are saying using my utility pad said Kat, whipping out her arm and, with the press of a few buttons, had selected the translation application. "Explica te."(2) Kat calmly stated.

"Hac in nocte, nos opprimebantur," the villager began "Last night, we were attacked," Kat translated, " vestra classiarios venit," "Our marines came," "Duxerint eos in creaturis convallis mi ibat cum illis," "They lead them, the creatures into the valley, and his son went with them," "

Illis creaturis exanimavit classiarios ... et filium meum." At this the man broke down into tears and a women emerged, maybe his wife or a relative, and ushered him inside, the returned, to take his place.

She put on a brave face and stood tall, a little battered, a truly respectable woman indeed.

"Those creatures killed most of the marines... and his son." Kat finished and then turned towards Carter, looking for his verdict. "Get them back inside, we'll head to the valley to investigate, June lead the way." He looked at me and I nodded. "Pilot, please head towards the village." The pilot responded with a quick yes mam and took of.

"Quisque intrare plures auctores itinere vallem tractabimus in creaturis." (3) Kat told the villagers before following the rest of noble as the sprinted afte my falcon.

The pilot flew slowly towards an abandoned house, which was obviously ransacked and hovered, allowing me to notice the final features of the house. Fortified just like the previous house but this was in much worse condition, the roof was caved in on the left side and multiple doors had been forced open, their once proud doors lying unhinged on the ground. Flies buzzing filled the air and the stench of decay was present.

"Shadow, lead in, we got you back." Carter said. Shadow responded by tapping his helmet and switching on his night vision. "Talk to me noble, what do you see in there?" I asked. "3 mark this location for CASEVAC, we have two dead marines, obviously interrogated, through methods that match covenant technique." Carter said, his head down. "If only we had gotten here sooner."

I had my head down, these poor men, no matter how filthy, didn't deserve this sort of pain. I was so into thought that I barely noticed the bleep of movement on my radar. "Carter, I'm reading movement, be advised, movement is closing in from all directions." "Is it civilan?" Carter asked, but was interrupted by a loud "CONTACT!"

A.N. All right I have a flu week of so I might post another chapter or two soon, thank you to all my readers and good night!

(Translations) These are translated from Latin, as they were the closest language I could find to the native language of Reach 1. Oh thank God, the authorities, please tell me, are those creatures gone?

2. Please explain

3. Everyone get inside, more authorities are on the way, we will deal with the creatures in the valley.


	3. Zealot

**Into the Dark and Forward unto Dawn.**

Reviews:

Edboy: Sorry if it's confusing but there _will_ be an introductory chapter, probably chapter 5 that will explain what's going on in the story. Zoe replaces Jun and Nico, who was murdered in his old life, replaces Emile. Hope you like this new chapter and don't worry, like I said, there be a chapter that will explain everything.

WingGundamZero98: Yes, Yes I did and this chapter finishes it off. The rest of this story will follow the Halo Reach campaign closely. Please keep reading, you were my first reader!

A.N. Thank you to all those readers and followers out there, thanks for your commitment to my story and I just want you to know, I really appreciate it a lot.

Warning, this is the longest chapter I've written so far, if your on a tight schedule, don't read this yet.

"Carter"/Luke's POV

"Contact!" Shadow yelled, before firing his assault outside a window. "Noble, let's back him up!" I yelled before leveling my DMR out the window. Funny weapon the DMR, nothing like the sword but in way, very similar. It's a weapon of finesse, requiring both skill and precision, something I've learned, is a fine art that very few can pick up, a trait I'm very proud of.

I settled my scope on the apparent leader, a bird like creature that has become a very powerful figure in the battlefield, a "Skirmisher". These birdlike creatures, the whole covenant for that matter, are nothing like monsters. There's no one-way to fight them, no fears, and no regrets. One reason I sided with Chaos when he recruited me, a test, a new purpose.

I looked at the Skirmisher again and couldn't help but show a hint of disgust. This creature stood at 5'5 with a spindly frame and greasy feathers covering its appendages and face. It stood back and roared, it's grip around its plasma pistol tightening. I calmly lined it up with the middle of the scope and pulled the trigger.

The recoil of the gun was by far one of the most amazing feelings of my life. It gave me a sense of power and skill, a chance to, and I will never admit it out loud, impress my father. The Skirmisher flew backwards, a spiral of green blood cascading out of the wound.

"That roar was calling for reinforcements," Kat said with certainty "expect to see more of them any second." I turned and almost choked, a stair well that led straight down to the ground floor which would make defense much harder. "Kat, take Emile and Shadow downstairs and hold them at the door, Jorge set up you turret, pilot spot enemies and provide a stable platform for our sniper, move out!" I yelled.

Jorge grunted as the mobile bipod popped out and settled calmly near the window. Kat sprinted down stairs with Shadow and Emile in quick pursuit. Judging from the incessant drone of helicopter blades above us, I estimated June was 100 feet above the house.

"Noble team, be advised, multiple enemy contacts, 75 to 95 strong, closing quickly on your position." I turned my attention the perimeter fence around the house, more specifically the entrance. The entrance was surprisingly padlocked. "Won't stay that way for long." Emile commented and I could only think 'how does he do that?!'

Childish cries screamed outside the gate and the rustling of chains was heard. A tense moment of silence followed. Suddenly the familiar blue hue of plasma erupted from the gate and a blast echoed through the valley. Covenant swarmed through the gate, only to be met by Jorge's chain gun. Bodies flew everywhere and for a moment green and purple blood floated throughout the air like a fountain.

The first enemy to make its way through the fray was a "Grunt". I always thought of these creatures as "Comical" as they were anything but warriors. They hung low to the ground, round bodies with chunky arms and legs. They breathed methane, or yes 'farts', so the breathed through gas masks with a large supply tank erupting from their backs in a triangle. A thought that I've put into the back of my mind came forward and for once I obliged. I do like to make a strong impression.

I aimed for the center of the grunts gas tank, at a spot the size of a penny and with a disciplined finger, pulled the trigger. At one a huge WHOOSH erupted from the grunt, its chunky little body flying through air, trailed by a little channel of a green gas and fat limbs! I had ruptured the gas tank, releasing a huge buildup of pressurized gas. "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Emile laughed like a little kid in a toy store, "Nice shot sir!"

I smiled "Thank you Emile but stay focused this isn't over yet." Almost on cue 6 skirmishers erupted from the fray, all of which promptly sprinted forward, chattering like the shades in the field of Asphodel. One was downed with a expertly placed headshot by Zoe, making the particular Skirmisher fall down _HARD_. However, this was only incentive for the remaining 5 to run faster.

'Dang these things run fast' I thought as I barely managed to pick off the slowest skirmisher, but they kept coming. Kat manage to clip one in the arm with her pistol, causing it to fall end over end until it came to a stop, with its face in the dirt where it belonged. Kat finished it with a headshot. The remaining two finally reached jumping range, the first one reaching an impressive 15 feet and coming down quickly, only to be blasted at point blank with a shotgun by Emile. Emile promptly grunted as if to say 'that's were you belong'.

Shadow, who obviously hadn't encountered skirmishers before, looked on in awe at the first skirmisher while not realizing the other skirmisher nearing impact with him. "LOOK OUT!" I yelled, fearing the worst. Then the unexpected happened. Shadow rolled backwards, catching the skirmisher with his feet halfway through, kicking backwards. Hard.

The skirmisher flew past the rest of Noble, impacting the wall with a sickening _Thud_. The skirmisher didn't get up and Shadow simply turned and continued to add to Jorge's fire. "I'm impressed." I mumbled, "Tell me about it." Jorge grunted as his chain gun rattled.

Slowly the action started to draw to a close, until the pilot confirmed "All hostiles neutralized Noble, marking destination on your map, be advised, more contact is ahead, recommend you commandeer transport as your destination is 37 clicks north from here. The troops of Delta company are 14 clicks north-west of your current position, what is your plan of action?"

I thought for a couple of minutes before finally deciding on my way to approach this, knowing there was only one solution. "We need to split up, Kat, take Emile and June and start setting up the relay, I will take Jorge and Shadow and backup the troops, once we've a LZ for the troops We will rendezvous on you position, break, everyone keep on your toes, good luck.

The falcon hovered in the courtyard and Kat's party piled in on the chopper. I waved as they flew into the distance. Then I realized, the troops are nearly 16 clicks away, and with no transport, we might be too late to support the troops. I winced as the bodies of the interrogated troopers came to mind. 'No one else is dying on my watch.'

I scanned the courtyard and my eyes settled on salvation. A rusty, old longhorn civilian vehicle covered with plasma burns. "What I wouldn't give for Kat to be here." I commented as I inspected the vehicle. Not to bad, the hydrogen engine is intact, wheels aren't popped, no key components damaged, flatbeds a little damaged. While my inspection didn't fit the bill, which I knew would endanger my team, this was the only way to get to the troops on time.

"All right noble, pile in, Jorge set up you turret on the flatbed, I'll be gunning from the passenger seat, Shadow, you're driving." Everyone piled in and as soon as I sat in the passenger seat, a list of vehicle seats popped up on my seat, one by one they were claimed and Shadow floored it.

About halfway through the ride Jorge yelled "Skirmishers up ahead!" and his chain gun started to rattle. Bullets erupted at the feet of roughly 7 skirmishers, and shots clipped them in the shoulders as we rolled past. The remaining 4 skirmishers gave chase.

Even though we were flying at about 78 miles per hour, the skirmishers easily kept pace. Jorge turned and shot down two, resulting in the skirmishers turning end over end and the remaining pulled up along side the car. I turned only to see the skirmisher on my side grab the car and it's jaws flashed hideous yellow teeth in my face.

As soon as it pulled back and readied its pistol, I elbowed it in the crotch, resulting in a frail screech that was swiftly drowned out by chain gunfire. "Sorry sir, I couldn't get a bead at that angle." I understood but then my heart stopped, what about the other skirmisher?

Apparently my question was answered when I turned my head and saw Shadow and the other skirmisher in a similar position to what I was in only seconds ago. However, as soon as the skirmisher pulled back, Shadow calmly pulled out his pistol and without even turning, clipped it in the face. "Nice." I commented, with Shadow grunting in response.

With no more contact, I turned my attention to my radio and attempted to contact delta. After a few fruitless minutes, a strangled fuzzy cry erupted on my radio. "Contact, CONTACT, THE COVENANT ARE IN REACH, I REPEAT THE COVENANT ARE ON REACH, REQUESTING IMMEDIATE SUPPORT TO ALL U.N.S.C. TROOPS AND" the troop paused and I took my chance, "Pull yourself together marine, this is Spartan team noble, we are on our way to your location, break, we will assist you in combat and provide cover so you can evac. Can you give me some information on your current opposition and status?"

A strangled gasp similar to a moa getting run over went over the line, "Commander sir, we are holed up on a temporary stronghold near a river, break, covenant are on the opposite bank and are attempting to cross, covenant are consisting of grunts, jackals, elites… HUNTERS! WE NEED IMMEDIATE ASSISSTANCE!" the marine panicked with good reason.

Shadow nudged me, "We've almost there." and took a hard left. I looked over the ridge and replied to the marine, "Marine, this is Spartan team noble, we've arrived."

Shadow gunned the car over a ridge and as we flew over I assessed the battlefield, not liking what I was seeing. The marines were obviously greenhorns, as they were sloppy and in bad formation. They were not organized either, being too far from each other to communicate. The only thing they did right was to take cover and wait it out. The opposite could be said for the covenant.

These covenant were obviously well trained and experienced, even the grunts who were ducking behind strategic cover and providing suppressive fire from time to time. Jackals, smaller cousins of the skirmisher, with orange skin and smaller feathers instead of mottled grey skin and not nearly as fast as their cousins, had set up a defensive phalanx with the energy shields blazing, deflecting rounds with ease.

I detest elites more so than any other covenant creature alive, though it does come close to Brutes. These things stood nine feet tall, with hoof like feet and splitting jaws much like the predator movies I used to watch with Thalia. 'Luke put that thought out of your head'. These things were the covenants best, being well armed and prepared for anything, except us.

I turned and yet again my heart almost stopped. Two hunters were striding purposefully towards the marines, as if to say 'time to say goodbye'. These things were in short supply for the covenant, but they were the powerhouses for the covenant. These things stand at 11 feet tall with armor as thick as a battleship's, with a massive shield on their right arm and a fuel rod cannon on the other arm. 'This is going to make my job much harder.'

"I'm aiming for the hunter, bail out, BAIL OUT! Shadow yelled and I did something stupid, I did something without thinking. What if Shadow was wrong, what if we all got killed. I would take the blame for their deaths and add another pair of soldiers lives to a long list of all the things I've done wrong. But Shadow obviously made the right call as moments after we jumped, the car smashed into the hunter, which prominently disappeared in a fiery explosion.

That attracted attention. The other hunter turned and wailed in sadness at the death of its partner while the elites roared at the death of a powerful asset. Grunts Jackals and marines shared the same look for once, a look of awe. I took my chance, "MARINES! REGROUP ON ME!"

The marines sprinted towards me, with two carrying a massive machine gun turret and caught the covenant on unawares, before they knew what happened, we had regrouped and had started planning our next move. "All right Marines, I got a chopper escorting two pelicans here to evac, ETA in ten minutes, we need to hold out till then. I looked around. We were hiding in a semicircular shack, with our backs against a mountain's cliff side. Ahead of us were three thick rocks and a small drop barricaded with wood. A plan came to mind.

"You and You," I started pointing at marines carrying DMR's, "I want you two to stay here and pick enemies off, you two," I pointed at the machine gun turret pair, "I want you to go to the wooden barricade over there and set up, provide suppressive fire and try to take down the Jackals and elites. Spartans, focus on the elites and the hunter."

Everyone nodded and on the count of three we all ran to our positions. Somehow a grunt had managed to get across the river but Shadow sorted that out quickly, as soon as the grunt drew near, Shadow elbowed it and the frail creature flew backwards. Shadow then started to cover the machinegun turret team as the walked forwards and as soon as they had set up, Shadow bounded forward and hid behind a tree.

Jorge had walked forwards and unleashed a hail of bullets on the covenant, breaking down about half of the Jackal wall and massacring the grunts. The marksmen and I were picking off grunts and Jackals with ease, having successful headshot after headshot. As soon as we mopped up the lower level forces I told the marksmen "Aim for the body, hit them 5 times and then finish it with a headshot." Judging from the falling elites, they had taken my advice.

The hunter, which had somehow escaped my thoughts, had bounded out of nowhere and flanked the machinegun turret team. Its left fuel rod arm glowed as it prepared to fire and time turned to slow motion. "NO!" I yelled. It fired and the shot landed right next to the machinegun team. It started to prep for another hot when suddenly a grenade flew out of nowhere and lodged it's self in the hunter's muzzle. The hunter looked down in questioning and it finally realized what had happened when the little pineapple exploded, which caused a chain reaction to the fuel rod gun, causing a massive explosion.

The Marines that were manning the machine gun turret were lying on the ground, unmoving. I ran forward, "COVER ME!" I yelled to Jorge. I picked up the two marines like rag dolls and dropped them gently inside the shack. I did a physical assessment. Both were alive, barely, though each shuddering breath brought them closer to death. I looked up and saw two med kits attached to the walls. I looked to one of the marksmen who was kneeling beside one of the marines. Judging from the name that appeared on his HUD and the HUD of one of the injured marines, I could've sworn they were brothers.

"Come on Jack, don't die now," the marine said a tear glistening down his cheek and soaking his microphone. I handed him a med kit, "Work on the other marine, this ones burst his lung, it's fixable but he needs a proper medic." He nodded weakly and set to work, following every marines light first aid training. I set to work, my hands fumbling around until I found the bio foam, which I prominently sprayed into the wound. Skin closed quickly and the sound of mending bones was heard, '_snap, snap, snap_.'

Shadow walked in and said, "Covenant outside destroyed, I can hear choppers, evacs ETA 30 seconds." I nodded blankly and the sound of a pelican drove my thoughts back towards the marines. "Shadow. Help me with the marines." Shadow, who had already assessed the injuries, nodded slowly and picked up one marine and carried him outside. I followed with the marine I had treated, his brother following close behind. A vertical takeoff and landing "Pelican" had landed outside, with troops covering the drop hatch. We walked forward slowly and paramedics quickly came forward, taking the marines on stretchers.

"The covenants are on Reach?" a marine asked, kicking a dead grunt.

"Yes." I said as I climbed on to the falcon. 'may the gods help us all.'

Jorge/Charles Beckendorf's POV

The falcon ride to team two was uneventful, with the only conversation being June's greeting and sit rep. "Emile and Kat are surrounded by covenant forces. I picked off key targets before we left to pick you guys up. Kats trying to hack the doors to the facility they were jammed shut by covenant techs long before we got here. Banshees showed up after we left, but we've kept in contact with Emile ever since we left. Patching you through now."

A video showed up on my HUD and I clicked enlarge. Emile's face appeared on-screen and he was doing what Emile's do best, wreak havoc. Emile had decided to go akimbo on the covenant, a shotgun and assault rifle in both hands, tossing grenades at his leisure. Outside of the main doors were a parked supply van, some crates and a machine gun turret. Outside of that small space was a large covenant force, composed of grunts, jackals and elite minors, which were altogether barely holding it together.

Banshees flew in, a pair of them and dove full throttle at the doors. Banshees were the main fighter planes for the covenant, trading the usual armor for incredible maneuverability. They had short, flimsy wings and were armed with a plasma machine gun and a fuel rod cannon. As soon as appeared on-screen, Emile tossed a plasma grenade, a sticky explosive invented by the covenant, at the banshee. It stuck to the cockpit and the plane veered off course before prominently exploding.

The second one changed course, aiming to ram Emile. I could have sworn that Emile was smiling as he sidestepped and punched the wing which caused said banshee to veer of course and smash into the roof of the base. (A.N. When I played the Halo reach campaign, I did the same thing, it was awesome.)

The video shortly lost connection as the covenant ran forward. Carter obviously distressed, asked the pilot the same question many kids ask their father on long road trips, "Are we there yet?"

The pilot responded, "ETA 1 minute and counting."

The final minute was spent in silence and memories came to mind, memories I've been denying for years.

Memories like my death, my resurrection in the house of Chaos, my acceptance into Chao's domain, the beginning of my right of passage. Something I haven't finished yet. Silena, I sighed, Chaos promising that I would see her after I finished my right of passage.

"Were here." The pilot informed. I looked down and noticed a huge mass of covenant pushing against the barricade, smashing and pounding, with only one clear target in mind. As soon as I saw Emile on the helmet cam, I knew that they would be there when we got here. Even now the covenant hadn't passed through the barricade. Now that we were here, they didn't stand a chance.

"Set us down." Carter ordered to the pilot. "It's a little hot sir." The pilot whined, but did so anyway. As soon as we touched down, Shadow stormed forward, his assault rifle firing, grunts sent flying, Shadow showed no mercy, 'Chaos would definitely accept him into his house.'

I set up my chain-gun, just like I have many time before. The feel of the gun felt foreign, but with so much work to do, I didn't dwell on that thought for long. I mowed down the enemies, much like a lawnmower, nothing stood in my way. Before long, we had arrived at the barricade, with Carter talking to Kat, June perched on top of a car, Emile and Shadow right next to the barricade and me in the middle of it.

I let my memories of my pass fly away with the bullets. "I'm through." Kat informed to the rest of noble. "Everyone get inside, we gotta get out of the kill zone!" Carter yelled. June went first, then Shadow and Emile, and finally me, I retracted the bipod and retreated into the main hall just as the 5-foot titanium class A doors shut behind me.

"I can't see a thing." I mumbled to no one in particular. "Everyone turn on your night vision." Carter ordered. I turned on my Night vision and everything became clear, covered in a hint of green tint. All the visors lit up, excluding Emile's, who was completely at home in the dark, and surprisingly Shadow's. 'What I wouldn't give to have had these during the titan war, heck, what I wouldn't have given to have had my entire kit!'

We walked through the bloodstained walls, what kind of blood, I couldn't really tell. I moved next to Shadow, who knelt down next to something. 'Someone.' I corrected my self. A middle aged man, almost certainly a scientist, in a thick bloodstained sweater. Shadow turned him over and fumbled in his pocket, pulling out something glowing.

"Found something." Shadow informed.

Almost immediately, Kat swooped in and yanked it out if his hands. "Sorry 6, not your domain." Kat started to look at the object. "Can't tell what it is, I'll figure it out later." Shadow was still fiddling with the man.

"He was killed by… Something plasmatic hitting his lower back, description fits an energy sword, Zealot status by the looks of it."

I whistled, Zealots were the best of the best, the most heavily armed of the elites, With advanced shields and training, always ready to carry out the will of the covenant. "If there are Zealots, this mission was of most importance to the covenant," June informed "There probably still in this facility." She let that sink in.

Shadow put up his hand, signaling for quiet. "What is it?" Carter asked. Shadow walked over to an air vent the stairs. He fumbled with it and as soon as he pried it of something flew at him, kicking and screaming. 'That's got to be the weirdest Zealot I've ever seen.' As I pried the assaulter of him, who was completely unharmed and looking steamed at being caught along the unawares.

A woman, 20 to 25 by the looks of her, native to Reach. I turned to Emile who was in his usual stance of brutality, his shotgun raised, yelling "MOVE, ON YOUR KNEES!" "Relax, your scaring her." I said as I pulled my helmet off. She paused for moment before continuing her struggle.

(1)"Finis certaminis et liberabit te." Kat informed using her translating app. (2)"Quidni ego?" The girl growled. (3)"Quia, si Lacedaemonii UNSC iam volebam te esse nunc et te laborante sub finem laribus." Kat said bluntly. That stopped her cold.

I decided that Kat had made her point. I dropped her gently and she walked over to the man's body. And wept bitterly. This caught me off guard. (4) "Quis 'iniuriam?" Kat asked softly, possibly regretting whatever she said earlier. (5)"Est ipse meus et pater." She informed quietly. Kat softened quickly and turned to Carter and said quietly, "He was her father."

We bowed our heads, even Emile, mourning her loss, I am almost certain that everyone around me has lost a loved one before. We would have stayed that way for a while longer had a moan not drifted through the base. Shadow's head shot up and he readied his gun. Emile followed suit, and disappeared into the darkness.

A moment later they reappeared, with Emile leading the way and Shadow carrying something much like a ragdoll. "We got casualties." Shadow informed solemnly, dropping the man gently and picking up a med kit, which are always in every household and installation as of 2457.

Shadow expertly treated the human, now identified as a marine sergeant, for a while before Carter knelt and finally asked the question everyone was thinking. "What happened?" The marine, with Shadows assistance, sat up and very slowly began to talk.

"I-I was assigned to base security, me and 14 other marines. At about midnight, covenant drop ships descended through the clouds and jammed our communications. We got overwhelmed but managed to get key personnel out. This- this wasn't our first fight with the covenant, b-but we've never seen elite Zealots before. T-they," at this the marine whimpered, "They came in with energy swords, we had nothing heavier then pistols, we were overwhelmed, they sliced my friends in half, then singled me out as leader. They interrogated me about some sort of a-artifact but I didn't break. They stabbed me and threw me aside, said they would come for me later." The marine was silent after that.

Carter looked deep in thought before finally deciding. "Noble, keep on your toes, remain in pairs, we need to set up a-' but was interrupted by a roar and three glowing swords. "We've been engaged!" Shadow yelled but was knocked aside by a giant purple clad monster. I've fought a couple elite Zealots in my day, they were always the elites of the elites, but these were a surprise. I had never expected to see zealots on a mission like this. Zealots were the covenants best, having a deadly combination of training and experience. Whenever Chaos was involved, these things were there, identifying his majesties artifacts as "Forerunner" property. If they were here on a normal combat mission, then I'm wearing a pink tutu.

Elites were as tall as Spartans and just as strong, matching us fist for fist, or whatever they had. You could never tell with aliens. So I was surprised that when Shadow was knocked over and pinned by a Zealot, he didn't cave in then and there. Instead of being overpowered, he knocked the Zealot's energy sword aside and smacked it in the face, causing a pained growl. Carter kicked it off of Shadow and carefully chipped away at the beast's shields, finishing it with and expert headshot. As the beast fell, The other two Zealots grabbed the marine and the girl, oblivious to their kicking and screaming, and singled out the door, using them as living shields.

"Carter, permission to pursue!" Emile questioned furiously. Carter paused before finally coming to a verdict. "Those doors are going to collapse at any second, 3 and 4, I want you to flank around to the bases exit, engage on sight, 2, you're with me, 5,6, CLEAR THE HOLE!" Carter boomed before setting up in a corner with Kat. Shadow filed through the door in which the Zealots retreated to. Shadow silently filed in and took point at the door. I followed and with a grim feeling of determination, smashed the doors keypad, sealing it shut.

I observed the situation, not liking what I saw. We were completely exposed, inside a generator room, we were on elevated terrain, which helped, but the only way down into the room was a thin corridor, if a grenade flew in, we were toast. "Go Shadow, I suppress them, clear out." I said and popped out my bipod. Shadow turned and walked to the wall. He dropped his assault rifle, which had an empty ammo counter, and grabbed a DMR. Shadow walked cautiously down the corridor.

At the same time, grunts went around the corridor, as if arguing with something. Shadow quickly picked them off, each with a well-placed headshot. '7 grunts in 3 seconds, all headshots, what can't he do?'. One of the Zealots rounded the corner and growled, igniting its energy sword, and lunged towards Shadow. I sprayed it with gunfire and the Elite roared indignantly as it's shields gave out.

Shadow came behind and stuck his combat knife in the elites collarbone, silencing it forever. Shadow rounded the corridor and was face with a hastily made jackal shield wall, as one the fired a volley of plasma from their pistols. Shadow dove behind cover but was pinned down. I sighed, looks like it's my turn. I swung my machine gun and bulldozed the shield wall, the bullets knocking the Jackals aside as if the were tissue paper.

Shadow sprinted from cover and turned to face the final Zealot. The Zealot pulled out something, not a weapon, but some sword of data pad. It clacked its mandibles together in disgust, look in the mirror sometime why won't ya. In sluggish English, it slurred "How dare you contaminate forerunner technology, relinquish it and perhaps I will make your death quick." Shadow responded by reaching down to the body of a jackal and pulling out a plasma grenade, igniting it and "Sticking" the elite with said grenade. The elite roared and ran forward but was abruptly stopped by a beautiful blue explosion. Shadow looked around and signaled to me. "All clear."

I jogged down and caught Shadow just as he was using his knife to cut the marines bonds. I sighed as I knelt down and did the same with the girl, who was traumatized beyond relief. I sighed once again as I picked her up and carried her over my shoulder to the other exit. I was greeted by an over enthusiastic Emile. "MOVE, ON YOUR KNEES!"

I sighed. The end of another successful mission. But if this really were successful, then the covenant wouldn't be here. I thought about what this meant for the fate of Reach, and how many lives would be lost. The covenant would surely flock to another "Contaminated world." I thought about their "Cleansing." I shuddered; give me Greek monsters any day. I thought of the one thing that will get me through this ordeal, the same thing that has pushed me on, from my acceptance in the house of Chaos till now. The face of Silena Beauregard and the promise Chaos made. That I would see her when I had made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of Chao's chosen people.

A new sense of determination coursed through my body as I stared at the body of a grunt. 'GET OFF THIS ROCK BEFORE I KICK YOU OFF!'

A.N. This was a long chapter so don't expect another update so fast, this was 5000 words. Maybe in one or two weeks. I have thought a lot about the next chapter and how to answer your questions, so the next chapter will be less about the Halo Reach campaign and more about The House of Chaos and Percy's Parentage, and how Percy ended up out here. Until next time, Ipods-and-Buds-1239.

Translations

(1) End your struggle and he will release you.

(2)Why should I?

(3) Because we are UNSC Spartans and if we wanted to kill you we already would have, now stop struggling or you will be placed under house arrest.

(4) What has happened?

(5) He is my father.


	4. The house of Chaos

**Into the dark and forward unto dawn Ch4**

To all my reviewers, thanks, you guys are awesome, I haven't received one negative review yet! I must be doing something right, with 300 viewers! Milestone!

edboy4926: Thanks, your awesome man, reviewing every chapter, reading my story from the beginning, THANKS!

WingGundamZero98: Yeah, I really went all out last chapter, that's the longest piece of writing I've ever done!

Leonard Church814: Zoe has replaced Jun with the identity of June, Nico has replaced Emile and is keeping the name as a cover, Jorge has been replaced by Beckendorf and is keeping the name as a cover, Carter has been replaced by Luke who is keeping the name as a cover, Kat is still a secret but she is a demigod, and her identity will be revealed in this chapter, can anyone guess before they read? By the way, love Red vs. Blue, awesome series!

aesir21: Thanks, I intend to make this into a trilogy or maybe a five part series, whatever, thanks for reading, hope you stick with me for the rest of my hopefully long Fanfiction career.

To all my readers, thanks for reading, I will also share this little secret, I might get an Xbox, which would mean faster chapter updates because I don't have to check Wikipedia and YouTube every 5 seconds for the plot! Hope you enjoy my story!

Chapter 4: The house of Chaos

Chaos POV

I watched Percy and the rest of noble fly back to base through my reading spire, feeling the pride swell inside me. My son, a Spartan? I always knew, but I still had to feel a sense of surprise, if someone suggested that Percy would be a Spartan when he was born, had I not known, I would've laughed.

I smiled through my invention. The reading spire was an idea I came up with almost immediately after my creation. Who or what created me, that is a mystery, the only thing in the universe that I don't know. And probably will never know. The reading spire shows me a moving image, much like a live broadcast, of whatever I desired, I could watch the super bowl, or play videogames, or watch those silly Olympians bicker over the stupidest of things. However, right now I need to focus on the task at hand.

Percy was flying back to the primary U.N.S.C. forward base. I could almost feel the tension rolling off of Noble. To come forward into that mission expecting rebels and leaving after discovering the existence of the Covenant, my chosen race's most feared enemy, which meant almost certain doom to Reaches inhabitants. Terrible.

I smiled, despite myself as they continued their journey. "All the pieces are falling into place." As the A.I. Cortana will say in many years, a terrible disease swept through the universe. It was always there, whispering in the ears of humans. War. Violence. Hate. It spread like a cancer, corrupting and destroying even the best of my chosen race. I sighed. Exactly why I need my legion.

After realizing that, despite my best efforts, war would and will continue to spread, I knew that this would eventually touch my realm. My daughter, much like humans, fears what they do not understand. My people will usually attempt to understand and learn about the unknown; Gaea will destroy anything that could threaten her rule. 'Even her own father.' I winced.

I know what your thinking, I know everything, why would the creator need protection? I smiled as I walked towards my balcony, and yet again, the sight managed to take my breath away. My city.

My city is the greatest in all of history. Voidiona. Commonly referred to by children as, quite simply, "The Void." I do not need protection. My people on the other hand, immensely do.

My people are people of peace, they are lawful, honest and graceful, they are in every way, perfection. But none, save one, knows the way of the sword.

I gazed in the direction of the Foundation of knowledge, a library of sorts. Sally. I created her, full of selflessness and courage. Beauty and strength, loyal unto death. She raised my child, the same way a mother to a son. She raised him, enduring many hardships. She was tested and showed her loyalty, a true member of my people. Unlike Poseidon, the one God I entrusted with the loving and raising of my son. I watched that ill-fated promise crumble.

As soon as I created my son, I knew my daughter would be out for his blood, she would stop at nothing. Therefore, He remained in hiding for billions of years. Until war began to spread. σωτήρας, my son's true name, began to grow, showing the skill of a thousand men by the time he turned 6 billion years old. I was so proud, I still am.

I began to formulate my plan, a plan of dominance and survival. I formed my military, known as the Rangers, my main vehicle departments, my navy, my air force, everything I could require to protect my people. The Rangers were the best of the best. They were so legendary that they became known, quite simply, as the forerunners. As they completed their rights of passage, they showed that they were worthy to be accepted into my domain and to join the Rangers. And as good as they were, they needed a leader, a champion, someone to follow. That is where σωτήρας, came into play.

To join my house, and the void as a whole, you must show many traits I deem of good quality. Selflessness, loyalty, emotion, not just strength, skill and smarts. Percy showed all of these, making him an obvious choice. However, there was, and is, still one last thing Percy must do to be accepted into my realm. His rite of passage.

"To live and die in the sake of freedom." The main line I attribute to a rite of passage. I require, how should we say, proof of your willingness and loyalty to my cause. My recruits have no knowledge of this but all recruits will die. They must if they are to be accepted into my house. To make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of the freedom for my chosen people.

If the manage to stomach their loss of their life, I will take them into my arms and they will become citizens in Voidiona. They will walk, speak and breathe again and will serve me for an eternity to come. I smiled as I returned to my reading spire; Percy will not venture this path alone.

While Percy is my chosen leader, he cannot be everywhere at once. Therefore, I chose worthy candidates to join as fellow leaders to the Rangers. And if they passed their test, they would not only be leaders, but my go to squadron, the people I could call on at a moments notice in an hour of need. Like when I run out of pizza during the final game of the Fifa soccer world cup. I have seen the future; I cannot change it.

(A.n. My catchphrase, I want copy write on it.)

I smiled as Percy's fellow recruits stepped of the falcon. Luke came of first. I knew from the moment he was born, Luke would have an important impact on the universe, in more ways than one. Luke has struggled and showed time and time again that he is a worthy soldier, but the Rangers will not accept a soldier who has not gone through the proper rite of passage, certainly not as their leader.

Carter will pass, this I am certain of as he has done it before, and he will, after a while, overlook his rivalry with my son.

Nico di Angelo emerged next. I smiled, this boy is no stranger to time travel. He has shown to be quick and adapting to any situation, but after his dreadful incident. I winced and as my thoughts strayed, an image replaced the recruits. A blonde young woman and a young arrogant man stood over Nico. Nico was on his knees, his tendons shattered. The girl slowly raised a knife, trembling. The boy urged her on, "Do it. Do it now Annabeth!"

The boy stayed defiant as the knife fell. I shuddered. 'Please, leave that subject. She had no choice, I will right this wrong, but I must first finish the task at hand. The image flew out of focus and the screen was once again trained on the recruits.

Nico walked forward and was bombarded with questions from worried marines, who jumped away as he roared in anger and stormed towards the barrack. Carter stayed behind and gravely told the soldiers of what happened, despite Holland's wishes. The soldiers silently walked away.

Nico displayed trust issues, barely showing his true colors to anyone. I fear that this will not change, not until his passage is finished and he learns the true identity of his fellow warriors.

I smiled as Shadow silently stalked of and heard him mutter, "Trading one hell for another. Wonderful." I silently laughed.

I turned my eyes to the other Falcon. Beckendorf hopped of and briskly made his way towards the barracks. I smiled; Beckendorf had already done a rite of passage. He had showed his perks and is already a member of the rangers. He is also married. I smiled as I thought of Silena and her job as my chief translator. She does it well.

Almost on cue, Beckendorf glanced down at his pointer finger, a ring glistened in the sunshine rested there proudly, then to the sky, and he smiled to himself. Zoe came off next. Zoe was, to some degree, difficult to recruit. She showed such fierce loyalty to her fellow hunters and to lady Artemis that the sky shook as she was torn between a new life and her past ties. But, as I knew, she would eventually come around. Zoe walked towards a small ridge and silently began to meditate. I smiled, she had learned how from the master, me.

I turned to the last person to emerge from the falcon. "Kat."

I smiled, Ms. Kat will not be known by that name for much longer. Kat's real name is actually, a miss Bianca di Angelo. I was surprised by her skill in technology, like everyone. She was born into a world without it, but has adapted and, some would say thrived with it. I smiled but knew she would face a difficult decision. I knew that while she displayed fierce loyalty, but, like my son, this loyalty could lead to her downfall. I presented that fact to her, with assurances that she would banish it from her personality and would begin to show discipline. She thought of her brother and with my promise of reuniting with Nico, she readily agreed.

I smiled to my self. All the pieces were slipping into place, it is only a matter of time before they acted in the name of freedom and shone with the intensity of a thousand stars. I turned towards my encrypted intercom, "Miss Silena, would you like to see your friends, they have some incredible tasks ahead of them, by the way, bring some pizza please.

A.N. And that's a rap! Man I love this story, there's so much I can do with it and I love every bit of it! Sorry for taking so long to update but I did have a very busy week. So much work at school, got to stay on top, and I'm sorry to say but school comes before writing, school and church. Any way, I am working on overtime, I haven't missed any homework and I'm getting straight A's, top that dog! (Actually, I got one A-, so mad about that but like my Dad said, an A's an A.)

About Annabeth, She will not be in this story but perhaps a sequel. So tell me what you think, of a sequel after this story is finished, I also have some other cool ideas for some other stories, like a How to train your Dragon and Brave crossover, or a Chrysis and Sonic the hedgehog crossover, yes I still play that game, there will be a sequel and as soon as I find out how to make a poll, you can decide on what I do.

Any way, I must voice one concern. One of my favorite authors, Yellow spider, has had their story copied, please, if you guys see someone copy my story, tell me and report it to me so I can report it to the authorities. Thank you and please be with Yellow spider and their issues. I know what it's like to be plagiarized; it's a lot like bullying. So please if you like my story, read it, but don't post it!

So I'll update next weekend, thank you to all my readers and a little spoiler, next week will be the next mission in Halo Reach, mostly in Bianca's POV. See you later readers!

Ipods-and-Buds-1239


	5. Uncle da Vinci

**Into the dark and forward unto dawn 5**

A.n. I have decided against getting the Xbox simply because I have decided that while I like Halo, I'm not going to buy a whole new gaming system just to play Halo, besides, I would not only have to buy a gaming system with my money, but all my games as well. So sorry, but I'll make it up to you guys with an extra long chapter. I just started playing Crysis 2, I love it, I love everything about, I'm thinking about adding it to the sequel (don't worry, it's still a Halo Percy crossover, just an idea.)

I might as well say this now, I will be working on some other stories, but I'll finish this story first, so here's the options and I'll try to make a poll to have a vote, so here's some more ideas I will do eventually but they haven't been sorted in priority, just chose the one you want after the stories finished.

How to train your dragon and Brave crossover

Sonic the hedgehog and Ghost Recon, future soldier

So tell me what you think about the ideas, once again, I'll try to make a poll for voting. Thanks for reading this overly boring A.N. Ipods and Buds 1239

Reviews

edboy4926: Until Black ops 2 came out, Halo 4 was all my friends at school were talking about, and, sadly, I can't get Halo 4, but Halo 4 might be part of a sequel!

WingGundamZero98: I felt that I had to include her somehow, and hopefully this chapter will clear stuff up.

aesir21: Is a 5040 word chapter long enough? Thanks for the suggestion of clearing stuff up in a future chapter, I hope that the last chapter did the trick, and thanks, I tried really hard on that chapter.

Le Diablo Blanc2: I have to agree, in every story with Chaos in it, it's almost always Percabeth, rest assured, a son of Chaos has no business with a daughter of Athena.

PJO is the best: I don't know who copied Yellow spider, but what I do know is that he got deleted and banned from FanFiction. Ha, sucker. I do know what team fortress 2 is but not that well, so I probably won't do a crossover, however, I'm not shooting the idea down right away, I might do a bit of Gmod idiot box stuff, which includes team fortress 2.

Guest person: Yes I do know that bungie left, and I do know that 343 studios took over, I just haven't put together a new disclaimer, and someone (not you) sent a very "EXPLICIT" email about it. Rest assured the disclaimer is below. I drew up the first chapter before bungie left, so I haven't changed the disclaimer. Thanks for your concern.

Thanks for all the favorites and follows!

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson as it belongs to the author Rick Riordan, nor do I own the Halo franchise as it belongs to Microsoft, 343 studios and the former bungie studios.

Kats/Bianca's POV

"-you'll be dropping in on the overhang, there will be a marine strike force there, they are under heavy fire from multiple covenant forces. Our team reports Grunt's Jackals, Skirmishers and Elites. Nothing else. Remember, there are civilian scientists in the labs, watch your fire, and I don't need to remind you that this is a O.N.I installation, Kat, don't even think about touching their stuff."

I smile, he knows me to well. I'll admit, even I'm surprised to be a technician, I mean, I was born when WW2 was happening. My family was not a family of technological masters, heck I could barely even operate the black and white TV in our apartment. But I always had a fascination with something known the humans, ever since we were first made, way back in the dark ages, when the Titans ruled. Puzzles.

I always had a secret fascination with them, they were always calling out to me, tempting me with their mysteries. I always looked up to those great geniuses and masterminds throughout the ages. Archimedes, Pythagoras, Socrates, all of them. But my favorite, absolute favorite, was Leonardo da Vinci. So you could imagine my shock when I encountered Chaos's chief inventor and scientist. Uncle da Vinci.

Ok, his formal title was, "Chief scientist and master inventor of Voidiona", but I called him that. When I came to Voidiona, I was simply staggered. I had found a place that was exactly like me. Out of place, it's inhabitants, forgotten by time. I had always felt out of place when I resided on earth, being stuck in the place of evil, the "CASINO."

When I arrived at Voidiona I was ridiculed. I was the first female recruit for the Rangers. I was looked down by everyone, hated because of my past and gender. So when Leonardo spoke with Chaos about these rumors of "A girl Ranger", Chaos introduced me. Right of the bat, I knew we would be friends. He had a great sense of humor, a demigod himself. We both liked puzzles.

I think that was the reason I became a technician was my love of puzzles. So when Leonardo noticed my love of the things he was famous for, Leonardo went to Chaos and demanded that I be made his apprentice. I was so excited to be accepted by Leonardo, I hugged him on the spot when he approached me with the apprenticeship.

I spent the majority of my time in Voidiona working with da Vinci. And then I remembered my Italian heritage. So I set to work at the Library, checking the computers, invented by Leonardo none the less, and checked as many ancestral websites as I could find. Every single one had Leonardo da Vinci somewhere on the timeline. The first time I saw that, I nearly chocked on my lunch. I read that over and checked it on ten different websites, all of which stated that Leonardo da Vinci was my ancestor.

Of course, Leonardo knew, and from then on, I called him uncle da Vinci. And over time, our bond grew, so when Leonardo suggested that I should try learning the basics of U.N.S.C technology, I jumped at the chance of it. It was a shock that it came so naturally, and 10 days after beginning my training, I had mastered the most advanced levels of technology. Which are usually accomplished by U.N.S.C technologists after 5 years of rigorous training.

On the day I began my Rite of passage, I nearly cried when I said goodbye to uncle da Vinci. The last thing I remembered when I passed through the warp point was da Vinci waving, as if "Farewell." Of course with my training I became a technician, but a Spartan? I became the first ever, female Spartan technician in the history of the U.N.S.C.

I began to work with Noble team, I guess, aside from uncle da Vinci and Nico, were the only family I ever had. Nico, oh, my little brother must be in an entirely new world, without family or friends, stuck in the underworld, when I get my hands on his killer, oh, they'll never mess with the Di Angelo family again.

"Look at that." Shadow muttered, as I was shocked back to the present. A giant spaceship, similar to a floating deep sea creature, hovered above the base. "Covenant SDV-class heavy corvette, the "Prophets hand, is stationed above O.N.I Sword base, currently depositing type 52-TC Phantoms and orbital drop pods. Recommended distance from target is 67 miles."

I sighed, I hate A.I's. Auntie Dot, our assigned A.I.

"Sorry Dot, but we have to land," Carter informed bluntly apparently just as annoyed as I was, "Kat, take Shadow and clear up the perimeter around the base, I'll take the rest of the team to Sword Base's center and repel the covenants main force, once you've cleared the perimeter, rendezvous with us. Good luck."

The pilot hovered a meter of the ground. "Go, Go, GO!" Carter yelled. Shadow jumped I followed. Shadow pulled out his DMR and turned to the Marine Sergeant coming to greet us. "Spartans, oh thank God, were about to be overrun, help us set up a perimeter and we'll provide whatever assistance you need, follow me. I readied my pistol. From bow to knife to sword to gun. I don't really have one weapon.

I meet Shadow on a walkway, overlooking a courtyard. The marines were getting pummeled, with the only real progress being the machinegun turret on my left. Shadow started pulling headshots and at the sight of us, the marines cheered and rallied. The covenant didn't stand a chance. Jackals were flanked and picked off, grunts suffered headshots, the only elite was crushed by falling debris.

Shadow walked over to its body and studied it, he grabbed a small cylinder and attached it to his thigh. The Marines stood to attention, awaiting orders. "Gentlemen, we are short on men and on time, but we need to clean up this mess and reestablish our perimeter. You," he gestured the Sergeant, "take your men and secure the east wing, we will take these 4," he gestured to some marines, "and secure the north wing, good luck."

We ran north, the marines close behind, until we reached an outer perimeter checkpoint gate. I quickly examined it and finally concluded that the gate was sealed shut to prevent more forces from coming in. "We need to get that gate open, Kat can you hack it?" I looked at the control both, "Piece of cake, but we need to clean up here first."

I turned to the gates again and I'm pretty sure one of the marines soiled themselves. 7 elites were flat out sprinting towards us, equipped with energy swords. "Marines, on me, take them down!" I opened fire and the crackle of machineguns filled the air. The elites, Spec ops because of their tell tale orange armor, fell quickly. When two excited the fray, they ignored us and made a beeline to Shadow, yelling things in a hideous combination of English and Sangheli, "Give us our heritage, heretic." Shadow simply ignited an energy sword. The cylinder, I remembered.

Shadow rushed forward to meet them. The first elite lunged, Shadow parried, knocking the blade out of the elites hands, and kicked the elite, causing it to fly backward. The other elite was much more cautious, circling Shadow before lunging forward. Shadow simply sidestepped and put something on its head before running away, said thing beginning to glow.

"Plasma Grenade!" a Marine yelled and darted for cover, the rest of us followed suit. The elite roared as the grenade exploded. Shadow stepped forward, pretending to brush dirt of his armor before walking towards the first elite, which was fumbling for it's energy sword. It hissed as Shadow gutted it in the back.

I barely payed attention to the Marines setting up a perimeter as I began hacking. 'Hmm, a 7 number hexadecimal code, easy enough. I started and within 30 seconds, the door was sliding open. Shadow walked in slowly before looking at a small pack on the ground. It showed a man crouching in bright red Shadow touched it and a red acknowledgement light showed that the armor had accepted whatever he had downloaded.

The Marines rallied behind us and Shadow said quietly. "Marines, we don't know what's behind this door, so lets make this clean and quick, first cover you see, go for it." Shadow nodded at me as the door slid open. The fact that we weren't meet with direct plasma fire was nice. The plasma mortars, coming from Wraiths, not so much.

"Incoming!" a marine yelled as the first mortar came down. A blue explosion cracked a nearby outcrop as Shadow ran forward. The Wraiths were made by a hovering system that allowed it to cruise over pretty much any surface. A remarkable feat of engineering, if I do say so myself.

Shadow neared the closest Wraith and jumped on to the front hull, and began to punch vigorously. With every hit, a little bit of the hull came of, crumpling like aluminum. Shadow jumped free as the front hull protecting the cockpit came off. A marine ran forward toting a Sniper rifle, crouched and with expert aim, hit the driver. Shadow chucked a grenade in the empty seat and 5 seconds later; the vehicle was a thing of the past.

However, Wraiths rarely travel alone. A mortar blast flew through the air directly at Shadow. "SHADOW, WATCH OUT!" Shadow looked up defiantly as impending doom came his way. And did the exact opposite of what I was expecting. Shadow punched the ground and knelt just as the mortar made impact.

A Marine hefted a rocket launcher on his shoulder and gently pulled the trigger. A rocket swerved towards the wraith and caused a massive explosion. I solemnly turned to Shadow. When the dust cleared, Shadow was in the same position, his shields crackling a deep blue. Armor lock, I smiled, you madman.

2 Pelicans hovered over the remains of the wrecks of the wraiths. I smiled, Pelicans, how quaint, but it's fitting. The pelican vertical takeoff and landing aircraft was a revolutionary vehicle, allowing it to be amazingly versatile in any form of combat. One of the pilots signaled me on a channel. Using my wristwatch, something I've come to depend on, I gave a thumbs up and tuned into the channel.

"Are you Lieutenant Commander Catherine-B320? If so, we have direct orders from Commander Carter-A259 to deliver an some cargo." I smiled, Carter, ever the worrier. "I am Catherine-B320, what exactly is your cargo?" The pelicans hovered above the field near Shadow and simultaneously released something from the crew bay. Warthogs.

I love Gauss's technology; it was developed after pioneered theories and prototypes made by the German scientist and mathematician, Carl Friedrich Gauss.

He based many theories of, yup, you guessed it, Uncle da Vinci. The Gauss cannon that was mounted on the back fired a high-density projectile at speeds approaching Mach 40. However, very few people could fire it due to its complexity. Something Carter had in mind. The other warthog had the standard 12.7X99mm armor-piercing round chain gun on top.

I pointed towards a marine, the same one with the sniper rifle. "You, you're riding with us, the rest of you, pile in the warthog."

I received another transmission from the pelican, "Listen roadies, we have large amounts of banshees, scarabs and phantoms in the air, there are wolf spider anti air turrets located all around the perimeter, your other marines have secured one of the turrets in the south west corner, if you can secure and activate the rest of the turrets, we can clean up the skies and provide air support on command." I sighed, "Acknowledged, we will attempt to reactivate the cannons, but be aware that there are covenant techs in the area, they might have disabled or destroyed the cannons, we'll do what we can, Kat out."

The pelicans flew away and we piled into the gauss hog, Shadow driving, the marine in the passenger seat and me on the turret. I nodded at the other marines and we took off towards the first anti air. I looked at my wrist pad and confirmed our route. I sent it to Shadow and the Marines heads-up display, all of which were meet with blue acknowledgement.

"Almost there," the marine in the passenger seat whistled, "what else you got on that wrist pad." I smiled, "The capabilities of an entire intelligence base." The marine sighed, "Why aren't those standard issue?"

I smiled again, "Marine, I invented this, therefore I have rights to its design and production." I could've sworn the marines eyes popped out."

"Were here." Shadow grunted. I did a quick survey of the base. A small, metal, intelligence class base, with a second floor connected by a ramp. A small watchtower equipped with a spotlight, inhabited by a jackal sniper. A ghost patrolled the perimeter. I lined up a shot at the watchtower, aimed carefully; admiring the steady platform Shadow gave me and squeezed the trigger. A brilliant flash of blue shot through the sky and a millisecond later the tower exploded. The jackal screeched as it feel, it's body charred a hideous black.

"Marines, advance on the base, we need to set up the wolf spider. I looked around for the anti air and spotted it by the base. It was shut down; therefore it was in its shell, a small container that, when activated, the turret emerged from its container like a snake from a box when the musician blows, shooting down aircraft with startling speed. I signaled the marines. "Gentleman engage the ground troops, we'll handle the ghost."

Shadow circled around and I caught out of the corner of my eye the marines in the other warthog, their chain gun rattling. "Ghost dead ahead!" our marine yelled. Shadow drifted beside it and slammed into its side knocking the vehicle flying. It didn't even have a chance to turn its guns on us before I targeted its driver. One shot was all it took.

Shadow swerved back towards the base and accelerated into the hastily made jackal shield wall. The Jackals that didn't go sprawling on impact dove out of the way, only to be picked off by the other warthog's chain gun. I hopped out and strode over to the anti air turret. Its components were fried but I quickly set to work, pulling new cords and wires out of my thigh utility pouch. I felt Shadows eyes on me as I finished. "Kat, watch the skies, phantom in bound!" I smiled as I turned towards the phantom, looking like a lazy; flying beetle as it made it's way towards us.

The wolf spider arose from its container and almost immediately identified the phantom as a target. Its bullets left gaping holes in the flying transport's undercarriage and within seconds, the phantom plummeted. "Well, that went well." A marine commented. The pelicans flew back to us; they dropped 2 squadrons of marines, with orders to guard the anti air. I signaled Shadow to start driving as I highlighted the next anti air on my map.

We pulled up along a small beachfront, and I couldn't help but marvel at the view. 'Nico would've liked to see this.' What ruined it was a small, bulbous, red vehicle that made it's way towards us. "Revenant." I muttered and lined it up. Almost immediately it fired, a bright red ball of plasma flew towards us, which Shadow promptly swerved to avoid. I shot the mortar, disabling it. The elite driving it, realizing that he was doomed, went full out ramming speed towards us.

The marine in the passenger seat, not one to sit idle, set up the shot with his sniper rifle and delicately pulled the trigger. The elite fell out, dead cold, as the revenant swerved into the sea. "Nice shot." Shadow commented. The second base pulled into view. "Marines," I signaled the other marines, "we need to split up, take the third base, well clear this one." An acknowledgement light went of and the marines pulled ahead, swerving out of the way and onto a mountain path leading to the final base.

"Keep going Shadow." I ordered. We pulled into the second bases perimeter and almost immediately we were meet with fire. Plasma bursts flew towards us and Shadow swerved towards the bases main area. With a frown, I realized that this base wasn't a forward security base, but an agility training ground for new recruits. It rose up 2 stories, with a small tower rising from one side.

A skirmisher jumped down and with a shock I realized that the building was covered with snipers. A shot rang out and my visor clouded with blood. It wasn't my blood. Our marine slumped forward, dead before his head hit the hood of the car. Shadow cursed, "Man down!" He pulled up behind a large rocky outcrop. "We can't drive up there, they'll pick us of before we know what happening, we need to be more subtle, any ideas?"

I looked over to a small glowing hologram of an elite standing partially in front of another elite. 'Hologram', I smiled. Somehow, elite specialization worked with our mjolner armor. As soon as I touched it, it downloaded. "All right Shadow, as soon as I throw this we need to run. Shadow smiled as he realized what was happening. "I brought a little something for the occasion. He fumbled around for something it the driver's seat and pulled out two shotguns. He threw me one, grabbed the dead marines sniper rifle and prepared to run.

I threw out a small, circular disk. It spurred to life with an exact copy of me, which promptly began running. It was meet with an immediate plasma barrage. Shadow sprinted towards the base, I was right behind, as we didn't have time to waste. We neared the staircase leading up to the second floor. Shadow gestured towards the skirmisher snipers and strode forward purposefully. He caught attention immediately, meeting it head on with shotgun shells. Just like Emile.

The skirmishers fell from the structure, screeching like Hades. Shadow took care of the bulk of the forces and I finished them. One skirmisher came down from the roof, confused at what was going on. I lined it up almost instantly and shot, causing it to roll out a window on a one-way path that lead straight down. I smiled, too easy.

Shadow grunted, "We're clear." He had to have jinxed it. A blue plasma mortar impacted the nearby wall, causing fractures and burning wooden splinters to go flying. Shadow sighed, knelt and pulled out the sniper rifle. With a practiced aim and a sharp intake of breath similar to June's, he shot causing the wraith to explode. It was a one in a million shot, hitting the fuel cell. Shadow stood up and turned to me. "Let's set up the anti air and get back to the warthog, see how the marines are doing." I nodded. And we slid down a ladder, just like Spartan training when I was reincarnated at the age of six.

We ran to the wolf spider and set it up quickly, sat down in the warthog and Shadow floored it towards the next base. One of the pelicans deposited marines, the other pulling up above us, filling us in. "The marines encountered heavy fire, we've got a falcon supporting them, thanks to the wolf spiders taking care of enemy pilots. They have wounded but they're largely intact."

"Carters ordered that as soon as you've fixed the anti air that you are to be flown to the main building and rendezvous with him, and begin to repel the main enemy force." We pulled up at the bases main parking lot. The marines were rapping up quickly, walking through the remaining forces crowding around the main entrance. The marines leader walked up to us and gave a sit rep. "The remaining forces are holed up inside, we counted 3 jackals and 2 hunter." I sighed, why hunters.

"Where's Harvey," a marine asked. "He was hit by a skirmisher sniper as we were pulling into the base. Here," Shadow gave the leader the fallen marines sniper. The lead marine solemnly gave Shadow his assault rifle and walked over to his fellow weeping comrades. Another casualty of a pointless war, one we have to fight for our freedom, our survival as a species.

I fixed up the last anti air and walked over to the bases door. The controls were hardwired but I quickly spliced through that, resetting the program. About a minute later, the door sprung open. Shadow dove inside, narrowly dodging a plasma cannon blast from one of the hunters. "Don't come in!" Shadow yelled at the rest of us, "I got this."

Shadows/Percy's POV

I hid behind an alcove and started looking around the base for something, anything I could use against the hunters. I sighed as I saw a rocket launcher, perfect for this situation, in the far corner behind the hunters. I thought through my plan of action. 'I have a shotgun, the hunters have a weak spot in their back, come on Percy, you can do this.' As soon as the hunters lowered their guard, I sprinted forwards, diving through the first hunters legs. I bulldozed through the jackal shield wall with a few well placed grenades thrown on the run, and jumped to the side as the second hunter raised its arm and brought it crashing down to where I was barely a second ago.

I raised my shotgun and blasted away at it's exposed back, causing the hunter to roar in agony and fall, slowly to the ground, and its grave. I sprinted towards the rockets, dropped the shotgun and leveled the rockets at the hunter. I locked on and squeezed the trigger causing 2 pulsating balls of fire to course towards the remaining hunter and it disappeared in a fiery ball of smoke. Kat walked in and smiled, followed by the marines.

She walked over to a computer monitor and pounded away at the keys, and informed happily and with a hint of glee, "I just activated the bases defenses, all automatic turrets are back online, all we need to do now is mop up." The marines saluted and walked out.

A falcon landed outside and the pilot gestured frequently towards us, giving the well known, "Get your butts on the bird right now!" hand motion. I sighed and hopped in. Kat sat next to the cockpit. The pilot filled us in airborne. "The rest of noble has encountered heavy resistance but have established a perimeter, a very slim one I might add, around the basement. Spartan number 4 is trapped on the roof but he's holding his own, taking on the bulk of the local covenant air force. They're main concern is the basement."

"What's in the basement?" Kat asked, intrigued. "Why, Doctor Halsey herself." If I were drinking something right now, I would have spit it out. Kat guffawed, "_The_, doctor Halsey, mastermind of the Spartan programs and the Mjolner project?!" The pilot smiled, "That's the one."

The pilot set us down on terrace outside of the main base, Carter walked out to meet us. "The perimeter's secured?" I nodded, Carter sighed with relief, "We need to get upstairs and help Emile out, he's shooting down aircraft and dealing with covenant at the same time. Shadow, take point."

I took out my assault rifle and advanced into the building, and was greeted by Jorge and June, "Right behind you Shadow," Jorge said, hefting his chain gun. I moved in, grunts jumping in the way trying to stop me but I thundered forwards. I'm not losing another friend like I did before; I'm not going to lose someone like Nico again. Before I knew it, I was thundering up the staircase to Emile, who greeted me with a gun to the face.

He pulled away, "Glad you could make it." And hefted his rocket launcher before firing at a banshee. The place was a mess, with a charred balcony that quickly dropped 5 stories. I pulled out my rocket launcher and helped him take them down. I locked on to countless banshees and phantoms, firing, reloading from the weapons cache behind me.

Time flew by quickly, and Jorge held his hand in front of me. "Watch." He smiled. I looked up to see a massive covenant corvette, the same one we saw on the way here. Our Paris class heavy U.N.S.C frigate came into view, and with a brilliant blast, it's MAC cannon caused the Corvette to fall to earth. It exploded in a series of colors that would put the fireworks of any camp half-blood celebration to shame.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Jorge grunted, "Well enjoy it, this victory has come at a great price." With that he turned and walked down the ramp behind us, towards the basement. I followed.

I had meet Dr. Halsey before, and I can safely say that we hate each other, the fact that she kidnaps children and turns them into super soldiers against their free will with a strikingly low survival rate, kinda disgusts me. But nonetheless, she was very important to the war cause, so I had to keep her unharmed. Doesn't mean I'll like it.

"So Spartan's, the fighting's finished?" the scientist said immediately. "Yes sir, all fighting has been finished, the perimeters secured, this base is now under U.N.S.C control." Carter informed. "Good." Halsey said quietly, "And Mrs. Catherine, you have something very important, something that is rightfully mine, may I suggest that you give it back?"

Kat obviously did not like Halsey either, "I don't know what you're talking about." Halsey's smile faded into a frown, "Young lady, you have O.N.I technology, I suggest you hand it over, as interfering with O.N.I business can field a court martial." Halsey threatened.

Carter, who I already thought of as a protector, stepped forward. "Madame, while Kat may have a piece of technology belonging to O.N.I, she may have a reason to have held onto it, and need I remind you that interfering with Spartan business can also result in a court martial." Halsey sighed, "I suppose so. But it is very important, Catherine, please may I have it back."

Kat sighed as she pulled something out of her thigh pocket. A small glowing diamond. With a shock, I realized that it was the same on I found on the dead body on my first mission, the body of the scientist I found inside the base during my first mission with noble team. Kat slide it towards Halsey, who snatched it up eagerly.

A group of armed O.N.I personnel walked downstairs and escorted Halsey away. I sighed as we boarded the falcon, good riddance. But I have a strong feeling that, regrettably, we will see her again in the future.

A.N. Hope you like my little Thanksgiving present, I finished typing this in the morning, I got to get dressed and help set our place up, we have our cousins coming over, happy thanks giving and rest assured, another update is on the way.

Ipods-and-Buds-1239


	6. Reconnaissance

**Into the dark and forward unto dawn 6**

A.N. Allright, I'm very sorry for not updating in a while, but the last couple weeks have been super busy, the school play began it's performances and, while I hate plays, I got drafted into being in the cast. The play was Shrek, yes the Shrek, the ogre from DreamWorks, and I got to be a merryman… IT'S NOT FUNNY! But I digress and since my sister was Fiona, I did my best for her. I also had lots of schoolwork, you know, Straight A's are not easy! Last week was running clubs final week and I ran it with all my friends. I had 3 of my friends come over and play Black ops 2, I loved it! But I digress, now to answer your reviews!

WingGundamZero98: As soon as I read this review, I nearly spit out the coke I was drinking… than I laughed so hard, my sides still hurt! I honestly _completely_ forgot about how Kat, now Bianca, had only one arm, it completely slipped my mind! No, for the sake of the story and for the peace of mind to those Percy Jackson only, no Halo knowledge, readers, Bianca has both arms, in the cinematic showing the battle and the old noble six, (was his name Thom), please pretend that in the banshee that dive-bombed her did not take out her arm. Thanks for sticking with me!

Aesir21: Thanks, yes, I will vaguely follow Halo Reach's storyline simply because it's my first book in my Fanfiction series, the Theories of the void. This first story is designed to give a basic platform to begin of off, so after this story, the plotline is going to be mine. Thanks for reading man and thanks for reviewing!

Guest 1: I don't have Halo 4, so I don't know much about the Didact. However, while he doesn't look much like the Didact now, you could expect him to make an appearance in a possible sequel. Thanks for the idea, I'll se what I can do.

IPods-And-Buds-1239

Chapter six: Recon

June's/Zoe's POV

One does not become a highly praised, well renown sniper over night. Like many things, mastering this special art requires dedication, obedience, the will to learn and training till the early morning hours. However, unlike other forms of combat, snipers are born, not made. All snipers are born into the way of a one shot, one kill doctrine. They cannot be taught to those born of a different pedigree. I spent years mastering this deadly art and from the looks of it, Shadow has as well.

The Szurdock mountain range is truly one of Reaches majesties, it's highest peak exceeding earths mount Everest. The ridge teemed with exotic wildlife, from the fearsome Guta to the docile Moa. A true hunter's paradise, what Artemis wouldn't give to find this place?

The Szurdock mountain range was also the new home of the covenant invasion force.

When the covenant withdrew from sword base, many went into hiding along Szurdock. Holland knew that the only way to avoid massive loss of life to these monsters would be a "Quiet" extermination, by jamming their transmissions to their main fleet and killing every last one of them.

Holland wanted to know the exact force size of our new neighbors, so we have the responsibility of reconnaissance and search and destroy. We have no communication with baseplate, for fear of the covenant intercepting our transmissions, but we would have a live video feed with a direct line to baseplate. While we can't talk directly, they can see what we can see.

Aside from me, the only other noble member here is Shadow, as this was right up his alley. Before Shadow joined the splendor that is noble team, he primarily worked alone, perfect for the task at hand. Right now, we had split up, the small trek to the viewpoint often had very narrow points with room for only one person, besides, there were the covenant patrols to think about.

As if on cue, a covenant phantom dropship cruised lazily by, it's grunt manning the gun half-asleep. I watched them pass before shimmying across a Cliffside and pulling myself up. The viewpoint was in sight. I scrambled up the step path and quickly went prone, crawling the remaining distance to the viewpoint. A few seconds later, Shadow silently appeared on my left.

What I saw chilled me to the bone. The covenant were here in mass, phantoms patrolled the skies, tyrant anti air guns sat proudly along the ridges. I shuddered as I saw huge spear tipped shaped teleporters. I watched as 4 grunts, under the watchful eyes of an elite, carried a small purple crate covered in ancient runes. I ran them through my database; it came, in bold letters, Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon. Fuel rod guns.

Shadow whistled, "That's some heavy armament." I nodded silently. "Our stuff's not to shabby. Here" I passed him an extra sniper rifle mag. We had been given sniper rifles, my weapon of choice. "-You may need these. High velocity, armor piercing. They'll take the head off an elite at 2000 yards. And they are not cheap."

Shadow took it silently. We continued to survey the terrain and after a while, I started marking the most well placed anti air guns on our objectives list. "Do you have the charges?" I asked quietly. Shadow shouldered his pack and grunted. We were ready.

"Shadow, it's vital that the charges are in place when the main counterstrike begins. We need to split up. I'll follow the ridge and provide over-watch, let's finish this quickly and quietly."

Shadow slid down the slope while I stayed. I watched him melt into the underbrush.

Shadow's/Percy's POV

I spent many years in Voidiona learning the ways of stealth. Chaos taught me that the best warriors always assess the situation before striking. If I am to lead my father's armies, I must know how to lead as well as fight.

I snuck up behind an elite of minor rank; it's pale blue armor reflecting the moonlight causing a brilliant shine. June signaled me on our channel, "Noble Six, you have 3 grunts 17 feet to your left." I turned and smiled; they were propped up against each other, fast asleep. This is too easy. I pointed to the elite who was less than 6 feet in front of me, and made a "Slit throat" sign, followed by raising three fingers. Three seconds later, a shot that could easily be mistaken as thunder rang out and the elite crumpled to the ground, too surprised to cry out.

The shot, however, had awoken the grunts, which rubbed their eyes in disbelief. I sprinted towards them and before they could raise their tiny plasma pistols, I barreled into them, 30 seconds later; the grunts were in a permanent sleep. I looked back at June who began moving along the ridgeline while I followed the well-worn path.

Slowly we made our way down the path until we reached the first anti-air. The tall anti-air "Tyrant" model fit its name; its thick rectangular cannon barrel was filled with special magnetic accelerators, looking like ferocious teeth. These were a pilot's worst nightmare, one shot being able to take down a falcon easily. I turned to my left, the gun was well placed, the Szurdock mountain range was primarily a farmer's settlement, with the land around the mountain full of wide, flat plains. This was looking directly over our main path of assault, come sunrise, these plains would be a mass of vehicles, the air full of falcons, pelicans and whatever else the brass decided to throw at the covenant.

This would be a kill field if we didn't destroy the anti airs. I signaled June, "What's our opposition?" A few seconds of tantalizing silence passed before she answered, "I see a jackal shield wall, their obviously spooked, two jackal snipers armed with focus rifles, 3 elite minors and an elite ranger. A grunt technician is inside the anti air. I'll engage on your shot." I nodded to myself. This will require a… different approach. I readied my sniper on the rocks.

I lined the first jackal sniper in my sights, preparing myself to quickly switch from one to the other. While an elite is deadly, a jackal sniper would make short work of us at this range. I just lined up the shot when something lucky happened. The jackal I was targeting walked over from one side of the mounted anti air viewing platform to the other, standing right next to the other jackal, their heads both firmly in my crosshairs. I knew an opportunity like this wouldn't last long. I breathed in, slowly, remaining perfectly still, which is hard with ADHD and, with a disciplined finger, pulled the trigger.

The jackals fell quickly, almost in sync, a dying screech filling the air. The elite ranger immediately jumped to cover, followed by the other elites. The jackals howled in fear and clumped together. The grunt was looking around confused, before being pulled to cover by the elites. The elite ranger, his airtight mask covering his face, leaned from the cover of the inside of the anti air to try and find the culprit of the shot.

A second shot rang out, the ranger crumpling to the floor, his mask covered in purple blood. The jackals screeched in shrill squawks. I saw no other elites and stood up priming a grenade. One of the jackals saw and began to point it weapon but it was no use. The green explosive pineapple, curse my disorders, exploded on impact with the jackals, taking out two and wounding another. I finished the final jackal, sparing it the mercy it didn't deserve.

The elites decided to run at this "Most opportune" time. June signaled me, "Pick one." Without even trying, I nailed one in the back of the head. The second was blasted by June. I slid down the ridge I was standing on, ran in, the grunt was cowering in the corner. I silently popped it in the head with my pistol. I walked out and gave a thumbs up in June's general direction. June stood up and slid down the hill in a similar fashion to me.

She walked in as I finished placing the charges around the mainstream plasma-processing center at the core of the anti air battery. I turned to June and smiled. Something buzzed over the radio, randomly requesting emergency services. Civilian model. June turned to me and I held her gaze, before she nodded at me to pick it up. I tuned in to the channel ready to cut the link if the covenant had somehow hacked our communications. Something responded, something definitely human, "-to all dem U.N.S.C soldiers, ta anyone! Were unda attack by covenant ground forces, were at da main mining facility and are in desperate need of assistance, please HELP!

I looked at June. "You do realize that if we help them, we won't have the time to finish planting charges." June nodded, "This anti air was our main objective, the others can be finished off by ground forces, these people need us, I have never failed to answer an innocent call for aid and I am surely not going to break that streak now. We can meet up with them and evacuate together."

I nodded, but sighed as I realized that things are now much more complicated. I tuned back into the civilian channel, "Civilian, this is Spartan B-312, call sign Noble six, state your name and business." A moan of relief went over the radio. "Thank God! Mr. Noble six, we have come across a military weapons cache and have set up outside da main entrance to our mining facility, heavily armed covenant forces have begun der attack on us, how are dey even here? Please help us!"

"Sir, we are here on other classified objectives however, we cannot ignore a civilian in distress, we are coming to you, rendezvous at your current position." I cut the channel and turned to June, "I didn't know we had a military presence here?" June looked puzzled, or as puzzled as you could get behind a mask, "Me neither."

June and I went back to the ridge and began following the well worn path, scanning 2000 meters ahead every 5 feet. Every so often we would have to duck behind a shrub, or a boulder or so form of concealment to avoid a patrolling phantom. They were always heading towards the sound of thunder, or possibly gunfire. June lead the way, obviously knowing the terrain before hand. "Coincidently" she was leading us in the direction of the supposed "Thunder." Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Brilliant.

After about ten minutes of walking along the path, June raised her fist, meaning, get down, shut up. She gestured forward and I sighed. A small, white painted settlement sat nestled in the hills. If it weren't for the fact that it was obviously ransacked, this would have been a perfect place for a vacation for me and Annabe-, stop Perseus, stop. I sighed. She doesn't love you anymore, put her out of your mind and let her flow away.

With that thought slowly disappearing from my conscience, I surveyed the village. Many of the windows were boarded up, the doors torn of the hinges. Bodies littered the streets and a jackal nibbled at the body of an elderly civilian. I felt disgusted. June seemed the same. "Lets clear this village, we can use it a secondary evacuation point." She said, giving a weak excuse to stop this monstrosity.

I nodded and surveyed the situation. A patrol was passing through the village. An elite ranger led the way and was flanked by 2 elite minors. 3 jackals followed, the fourth picking at the body. 6 grunts, half of which were armed with fuel rod cannons, followed. June and I lay prone next to each other, sights trained on the patrol. "As soon as we finish taking this patrol, we need to hike the final 3 miles towards the rendezvous; we need to do this quickly. We'll take the elites out first, I'll take the ranger, as soon as he's down, I'll take the one on his left. On the count of three, 3, 2, 1." June exhaled and squeezed the trigger. The ranger toppled over, crushing a jackal. I squeezed the trigger and the elite on the right pirouetted, much like a ballerina. June followed up by hitting the final, confused elite.

The jackals freaked out and I took this prime opportunity to shoot the jackal feasting on the corpse, happy to put that cruel monster out of its misery. The jackal was completely oblivious to the gunshots and barely noticed the bullet entering and exiting its head. The grunts were panicking and, as they were close enough, I took out my pistol and blasted them. The magnum pistol was the Spartan standard issue sidearm, it's accuracy dumbfounding first time users. In other words, many people considered it a short range DMR.

While the grunts armor is surprisingly effective, a headshot from the magnum will easily finish the job. 4 of the grunts fell, all due to headshots. June hit the 5th and the sixth ran, holding its clipped shoulder. The jackals ran, one attempting to get inside of an abandoned house. "We need to split up," June suggested, I nodded and ran towards the retreating jackals. The jackals were running up an outdoors staircase, its glass shrouding shattered.

I sprinted up the staircase, the jackals arguing like cats and dogs, pushing each other out of the way as the made their way up the staircase. I grabbed each of them by their throats and held them by their skinny necks. The jackals kicked their legs to little effect, their scaly hands clawing at my arms. I threw them over the staircase and continued on my way.

I looked down at a small trail of purple liquid on the ground. Grunt blood. This was fresh, a beacon for me to follow, this was too easy. I followed it, my pistol leveled and at the ready. I heard a whimpering sound emanating from inside a room on my right. I silently counted to 3 a kicked down the door. I thought I would find the grunt, cowering in the corner. I did not expect June crouching, shaking silently. She didn't turn when I walked next to here.

In her hand was a small, little cloth doll, a faint red artificial blush still staining its cheeks. I looked up at the dresser in front of us. Pictures of a happy smiling girl with her parents lined the shelves. The doll was in many of them. June sniffled, "This maiden is gone, never to return, why? What have we done to invoke this wrath? Why us?" She shook her head and turned to me, "The jackals has been destroyed, the grunt as well, we need to hurry, it is almost sunrise." I nodded and together we exited the house.

We left the little town and continued down the trail towards the gunfire. When we neared a rocky outcrop, something told me to stop. I held up my hand in a fist, June stopped. "What is it?" I smiled, 'oh this is precious.' Now Reach is known for many things, one of which is its rich wildlife. I smiled as a monstrous predator stared down a covenant patrol.

The Guta is a species native only to reach and is known for it's natural ferocity. It stands 17 feet at the shoulder and has large thick tusks almost 7 feet long; perfect for skewering it's prey and the occasional naïve tourist. It lowered its head in curiosity as an elite general, clad in golden armor shuffled forward. In warbled speech it gestured to it's compatriots and I rushed to use my translator, "-dearest possible ally, and do you hate the human menace? Do you want to be free of your human oppressors? The covenant offers aid to all species under forced influence the humans and it is our duty to-" That's as far as the elite got.

The Guta roared and raised its foot, bringing it down on the surprised elite. The patrol cried in fear and shot plasma at the hulking figure, but this served only to anger the Guta. The Guta swung its big meaty hands, sending the jackal's weak shield wall flying, grunts went tumbling as the Guta's stubby tail swung around. Once the patrol was dealt with, the Guta grunted with annoyance and stalked away.

Me and June couldn't help but begin laughing, after 3 weeks of imminent destruction looming over our heads and the tension of the mission slowly building, it felt good to honestly laugh for once. As soon as we finished we finally came to our senses and continued down our path, with no Guta related problems.

"Man, those gunfire shots are sounding a lot closer now." I muttered. June gestured for me to crawl the remaining way up the ridge. As soon as we got to the top, we could see the battlefield. The Miners were doing poorly, holed up at the main entrance of the mining facility, popping their heads out of cover and firing sporadically. The covenant were taking losses, but they would still have plenty of troops to slaughter their enemies when they broke through the defensive line.

Beside the mine and the mining carts and lumber stacks surrounding the entrance, a large facility sat on a small circular lake of water, which filed into a river. Receiving information from my database, apparently, mined ores, lumber and farmer goods were taxied onto waiting cargo ships and ferried into major ports for selling. The facility was, like the lake, circular, with one story surrounded by floor to ceiling windows, all of which were either cracked or shattered.

The covenant were completely oblivious to our presence, solely focused on wiping out the miners. Two jackal shield walls faced the farmers, with grunts armed with fuel rod guns blasting the miner's makeshift barricades. Green balls of fire were hurled through the night sky, causing a farmer to go flying into a wall with a sickening 'THUD'.

A small entourage of 3 elite specops sat down behind a felled tree, discussing the situation. Two hunters were rounding the sandbanks along the waters edge, their alloy armor glinting in the moonlight.

"All right Shadow, last shot of the night, lets rap this up and go home." June said with steely determination. 'Home' I thought wistfully, what I wouldn't give to be at camp Half-blood right now. "Lets take the hunters first." June suggested. A hunters only weak spots were its eyes and its back. While the back is much more obvious and easier to hit, a shot to the head is a one hit kill. We needed to make the most of our element of surprise.

I managed to nail the hunter in the head, causing it to topple over. June did the same. Two one in a million shots past 2000 yards, all in a days work for a Spartan. I was so busy congratulating myself; I didn't notice the elites cloak. An elite specops specialty is stealth; so naturally, they're fitted with a short-term invisibility-cloaking device. I looked around for that tell tale shimmer cloaking devices emit when the uses moves quickly. Something caught my eye and I shot blindly. I clipped an elite in the shoulder; it's roar of pain apparent. June finished it while I scanned for my next target.

I noticed another shimmer to my left and seconds later the second elite uncloaked. While a cloaking device works well, it's called "short-term" for a reason. I nailed it in the head. We looked around for the third when I heard the ignition of an energy sword. I swiftly rolled left and the dirt inexplicably flew of the ground. An elites face slowly came into form as its cloak wore off. It roared and pulled its sword out of the ground and stood, it's sword above its head. June put a stop to that.

June fired point blank at the elites nearest target, its knee. The elite crumpled over and stared defiantly into my eyes. It growled and said in very reptilian English, "How dare you taint our God's technology with your filthiness, you dishonorable dogs, using your long-range weaponry." The elite spat. I looked it straight in the eyes. "Dishonorable? Ha, says the creature who attacks us while it's invisible, says the creature who murders innocent men, women and children who have done nothing to provoke it." The elite growled and then smiled eerily, pulling out a plasma grenade. My eyes widened, "Jump for it!"

I vaulted over and down the ridge we were on, June close behind. The explosion shook the air, if the grunts and jackals didn't know we were here before, they would now. We trudged through the undergrowth at a respectful pace of 38 miles per hour. Thank you genetic augmentation. We neared the second elites corpse, I knelt to examine it. Plasma repeater, standard issue, plasma pistol, blinking grey light. Wait, blinking grey light?

I looked down at the light, which was blinking monotonously in the pattern of once every half-second. I reached down to touch it and it disappeared. My Heads up display went fuzzy for two seconds before a small icon popped up. It showed a grey standing figure splitting in two. I turned it on. My limbs fizzled out and I couldn't see myself anymore. For the first time in almost 4 years, I had turned invisible, and it had nothing to do with Annabeth's Yankees cap.

June looked around quizzically. I smiled, "Active camouflage, nice." I turned it off and June shook her head, "Turn it off when we near the miners, the last thing we need is a friendly fire incident." I nodded and we resumed our pace. When we got close to the shield walls, June split away from me.

I neared the first jackal shield wall, the jackals looking mildly confused about the situation they were in while the grunts trembled. I smiled as I turned on active camouflage and pulled the pin on a grenade. I tossed it over to the jackal's stationary feet, the grenade bouncing against the lead jackals hoof. It looked down and shrieked in alarm, attempting to dive away but failing miserably. The grenade exploded, flaming hot shrapnel filling the air. Nothing survived.

The remnants of the second jackal shield wall turned in surprise and leveled their pistols at me; I barely had time to jump behind a small boulder before a wave of plasma flew towards me. The rapid clicks of assault rifle fire filled the air and the jackals quickly fell. June had flanked them.

We regrouped behind cover and together we walked towards the miners, who lowered their weapons in surprise. "Well butter ma pan and wet ma whistle, this here is one of dem danged Spartans," a heavily accented voice whistled. Everyone hooted in agreement in a combination of English and Reach's native language.

I sighed, "Gentlemen, we can admire the U.N.S.C later, right now we need to have some questions answered. First of all, where are the U.N.S.C soldier that had initial access to your weapons cache?" A murmur of unease snaked its way through the farmers. Finally a voice replied and a man with a Cajun style moustache, a beard trailing down to his waist and thick eyebrows stepped forward, "Dem thugs showed a week ago, brought some guns and launchers, hid some stuff in the mine. A week ago, der boat showed and picked up da shipment, I snuck some of da stuff of it, here," He gave me a small airtight plastic bag filled with white powder, opium and drugs I realized. "Dey left three days ago, left the weapons in da mine, da covenant attacked last night, killed most ove us, were all dats left."

I nodded and whispered to June, "Rebels, man I hate those opium sniffing anarchists." I turned back to the lead miner, "Well we best be going, a pelican is coming in to evacuate, there's more than enough room for all of you." Gasps of relief echoed around the valley and the miners fell into line as we made our way back to the extraction point.

When we boarded the pelican, the marine entourage was initially cautious, but we explained the situation and the miners were cleared for boarding. The last thing I saw of the Szurdock mountain range was the sun rising and a pale light illuminating the carnage of last nights battle. One thing was for sure, today promised to be the turning point in the battle for Reach. I felt grim determination flow through my body as I collapsed into an empty passenger seat and fell into a shallow sleep.

A.N. Expect an update in about 2 weeks, and more around Christmas. I show you guys a little equation,

I post chapter= you happy.

You want new chapter= you review

You review= I am happy

I happy= Longer chapters with faster updates

Bottom line, review, review, REVIEW! Until next time, this is IPods-And-Buds 1239


	7. Spear tip

**Into the Dark and Forward unto dawn 7**

A.N. Okay, this is probably the only time I will ever update twice within the same week, but I was sick from school today and already finished my homework so I had nothing to do, so I updated. Please give me some reviews; it would help me feel a lot better a lot quicker, especially since my entire family is sick. The next update will be at Christmas for certain, I might have a little insight to what's happening at Camp Half-Blood and Voidiona as well as the next mission, which was one of my favorite missions when I played the Halo reach campaign.

Reviews:

aesir21: Yeah, I really took last chapter to heart, I love sniping in all games so naturally I would try my best on Halo Reaches Sniper mission. I can agree with you, war sucks, I've seen this first hand, I've been to the trenches and WW2 battlefields, heck, I lived outside Bastogne forest, the final major turning point in WW2, for 3 years, I've seen the ruins of the Iraqi/Kuwaiti war firsthand. I am not going to shield my readers from them, and while I won't make it too _GRAPHIC_, I will try to portray the monster that is war. To answer your final question and suggestion, you assume correct, while the Spartans won't visit Camp Half-blood, remember, this is the first book in a series, odds are, they will eventually visit it in their adventures outside of Reach. Thanks for the review, your epic!

WingGundamZero98: While Percy is smarter in many ways including academics, Percy's brain is still full of seaweed!

Chapter 7: Spear Tip

Luke's/Carter's/Noble 1 POV

Today, the U.N.S.C means business. Aside from earth, Reach was our only major planet. It was home to over 570 million men, women and children. This, aside from the planets in our solar system, was our first major colony. And we have every intention to keep it our colony.

Never before had a force this size ever been assembled on Reach. We had everything, from Mongooses, small light weight ATV's that sit two, warthogs with every armament possible, even scorpions, huge lumbering tanks, vastly resembling their name sake. In the air, long sword bombers cruised past us and high above everything, two U.N.S.C Paris class heavy frigate spaceships hovered over us. Pelicans and Falcons, much like the one I was on, were everywhere, every door mounted gun, manned.

I looked down at the lead warthog, Shadow at the wheel, Kat in the passenger seat, a marine on the machine gun turret. Emile sat next to me on the falcon, manning the turret. He turned to me and nodded. I looked at a tyrant, the one June and Shadow had placed charges in last night, which was already being swiveled towards us by its new operators.

"Confirming det charge in place, positive response reading, ready for detonation." Kats voice appeared over communications. "Confirmed noble 2, send it when ready." I responded. "Rock and roll!" Emile's voice echoed over comms. Kat silently clicked the detonator and a huge fiery explosion echoed across the valley. 'Hades yes!' I thought in my head.

Our happiness was short lived. "INCOMING!" Shadow yelled. Banshees swooped in, dive-bombing the convoy, I watched as Shadow swerved to avoid the warthogs sent flying by the banshee's fuel rod bombs. Blue balls of plasma flew in sloppy arcs towards the convoy. Wraiths, preceded by ghosts, hovered towards us. The warthog's turrets open fired followed by the falcons. Emile's gun rattled.

"Shark 4-6, inbound on left side of convoy, do you copy?" a voice of a long sword pilot echoed over the comms. "Shark 4-6, convoy reads you loud and clear, over, hit em hard!" Our pilot responded. Long swords buzzed over the enemy vehicles and dropped a payload of bombs. And yet the plasma kept on coming.

"All right, noble 2 and 6, you need to finish the anti air guns off, as soon as you do, extraction will rendezvous, make it fast and we'll be home in time for lunch." I smirked. Noble six looked up at me and nodded. "Six, turn left, head for the bridge on your right, it's the fastest way to the first anti air."

Shadow made a hard right towards the bridge in question, but failed to notice the pale blue ball of plasma on a direct collision course with the bridge. "Watch out!" the marine manning the gun yelled. "Everyone, you might want to hold onto something!" Kat yelled. The bridge shattered and 6 floored it, barely clearing the massive chasm. The warthog rolled end over end until it came to stop. Kat scrambled out, her assault rifle blazing. The Marine manning the gun hopped out and stumbled to his feet and began firing.

6 was on the ground, not moving. "Get up, come on, please." I said under my breath. With a start, he shakily got to his feet and turned to see another warthog, with a flat bed full of troopers and supplies, attempting to make the jump. It failed miserably and would have cascaded into the void had Shadow not have leapt to save it. His hand barely caught the tow cable but he held strong. "Pilot!" I yelled, "Provide cover to the Spartans on your right!" The pilot swerved towards Shadow and turned so Emile was facing the Covenant troops encroaching on Shadows position. Emile's .50 caliber bullets filled the air.

Shadow was still struggling with the troop transport, the troops obviously shaking in the boots at the precarious situation. Fortunately, Kat was on hand. "Cover me!" She yelled at the marine, who leaned out of cover and fired a long continuous burst of assault rifle fire. Kat reached Shadows side and, with difficulty, barely managed to pull the troop transport out of the ravine and near the top of the cliff side.

"Get OUT!" Kat screamed at the marines, who hopped out and climbed up the edge of the cliff side. With one final grunt, Shadow and Kat let go of the warthog, letting it plummet into the abyss. She turned to the troopers, six in total, not counting their original gunner, who made a hasty defensive position.

"We're clear, noble one, please wave off any other vehicles who are attempting to make the jump." Kat said exasperated. I smiled, "Yes mam, Noble team and marine firing squad, we will provide fire support until we reach the anti air, once there, you're on your own." "Confirmed." Shadow responded.

Percy's/Shadow's POV/Noble 6 POV

I made my way to the overturned warthog. "Six, I could use a little help!" Kat called. "On my way." I responded, picking up a grenade launcher lying on the floor. It was loaded and ready for action. "6, we've got two fuel rod shade turrets up ahead, the marines will draw their fire, You take-" An explosion rattled the air and the warthog we were using for cover was sent flying. I grabbed a shocked Kat and pulled her behind cover. Rapid consistent burst of fuel rod ammo flew by us. I sighed; this was going to be a long day.

"I got the one on the left, you take the other, Marines!" I turned to our fire team, "Draw their fire, we'll take care of them." The leader nodded and led his men to an overturned tree for cover.

I snuck around and Kat sprinted to the other side of the cover, quickly nearing her designated shade turret. A jackal shield wall quickly formed.

Time to test this thing out. The U.N.S.C grenade launcher has stood the test of time and is a common sight these days. It fires a 44 millimeter grenade that can be set to auto detonation or manual depending on whether or not I decide to hold the trigger. I fired at the jackal shield wall on manual detonation, the grenade sliding to a halt under the jackal's feet. I let go slightly and the grenade exploded, sending jackals flying. Those that didn't immediately die lost the shields due to the electromagnetic pulse emitted from the grenade. Kat finished the survivors with her assault rifle. I leaned out of cover and shot at Kat's turret on manual detonation, the grenade exploded and shorted out the turrets systems temporarily. Kat took the time to ready her pistol and pop the panicked grunt manning the turret in the head.

I turned to the other turret and did the same, shorting out the turret and pulling out my secondary, a DMR and popped the gunner in the head. We double-checked the area and Kat finally yelled out "Clear!" The marines ran forward, guns raised and a Carter's voice ran over the comms, "Noble 2 and 6, be advised, friendly pelican coming in to evacuate marine troopers and drop cargo to your position." A pelican with a green finish flew in and the marines silently filed one by one on board, waiting to be ferried to the front lines. The Pelican dropped a warthog with a set of rocket launchers on the back.

The "Rocket hogs" main task was to eliminate enemy aircraft, but it was none to shabby at taking down enemy foot soldiers, with the guns firing an unbroken chain of 6 missiles. I nodded at Kat and we piled in, me driving, Kat gunning. We rocketed (excuse the pun) towards our first objective.

"6, those AA guns should be in range, they're pounding away at our aircraft, take them out!" Carter yelled and their falcon that was following us veered away as a high velocity plasma shell shot towards them and narrowly missed. All the more reason to go faster. I drove up alongside the gun and gave a clear shot at the AA guns interior, "All right Kat, let them have it!" I yelled.

Kat lined the AA guns crew in her sights and gently squeezed the trigger. Rockets soared over my head and the guns wailing crew disappeared in a fiery blaze. Kat lined up the explosive mainstream plasma-processing center in her sights and the AA gun exploded in vibrant colors.

We roared past the AA's remains, towards a small tunnel in the cliff side, a jackal shield wall standing in the way. I simply drove faster and the jackals screeched as they were crushed under the warthog's tires. "All right Kat, where's our next objective?" I called. "Follow the tunnel, it's right on the other side." Kat replied. We roared through the tunnel and failed to notice the grunt crawling into a stationary ghost.

Blue rapid-fire plasma coursed past us and Kat swiveled towards the source. The purple, shimmering hull of the ghost slowly came into view, the grunt egging it on, it pulled up alongside us and the grunt turned to face us, it's plasma pistol at the ready. I turned the vehicle in a hard left, nudging the ghost against the wall. Pale yellow sparks flew. The grunt lined up a shot but failed to notice the fallen debris right in front of the ghost. I smirked as the grunt turned and wailed as a bright explosion engulfed the tunnel.

I smiled as sunlight illuminated the hull of our Warthog as we soared into the sunlight. We pulled up alongside the second AA gun and I crouched in my seat and pulled out my DMR. Kat fired the rocket launcher and I finished any lucky survivors, before Kat shot the AA guns core. We hopped out to inspect the wreckage. While Kat looked in marvel at the AA guns charred inside, I watched something very different. The original convoy was nothing but a charred crisp as multiple warthogs piled together to form a makeshift barricade. The scorpions were relatively intact, maneuvering in and out of cover, firing at incoming wraiths and banshees. However, something sinister approached on the horizon. Three massive Scarab war platforms, composed of the same life forms hunters were made out of, albeit on a much larger scale, marched forwards.

I watched in pity as one of them shot and destroyed a scorpion; it's crew burning inside, trapped inside a steel coffin. Something whispered over the comms. "AA guns have been destroyed, Shark 4-6, you are now cleared to commence bomb run." "Shark 4-6, understood, commencing bomb run." 3 long swords flew over the scarabs and released another payload, killing the first two scarabs instantly and crippling the other, which was destroyed by a lucky scorpion shot. "U.N.S.C Paris class heavy frigate, Grafton, engaging Covenant ground forces." A monotone voice sounded off.

The frigates point defenses fired off, wiping the ground clean of covenant forces. Rapid-fire rounds streaked the ground, dirt flying upwards in thick columns. "Well done Noble, primary objectives completed, updating current objectives." Carter's impressed voice sounded over the Comms. I looked down the road and saw a broken crisp of a bridge, covering an abyss much like the one we saw earlier. There was no way we could drive across, and I really didn't feel like crashing a warthog a second time today. "Noble 1, be advised, we've encountered a canyon with a destroyed bridge, how copy?" I responded as Kat walked out, obviously thrilled at what she saw.

"Noble 6, bridge situation is currently being dealt with, remember, I give my team the means to overcome any battle." A pelican flew over and dropped a massive payload, which instantly expanded into a makeshift bridge before landing and dropping off a small group of soldiers. A Spartan walked out, June, who was supposedly resting back at base. Carter pushed the fact that his team got very little to no sleep last night, as he wanted his team in prime condition, but Holland insisted that he have "every man and woman possible on the front lines." So I got drafted, I wasn't sure about June.

"Skip the pleasantries, I'm here to provide long range support to the convoy, your objectives lie elsewhere, see you back at base." June responded before setting up a sniper nest, the marines around her taking up defensive positions. Me and Kat piled back in the warthog and we drove over the bridge and to our next objective. "Noble 2, noble 6, U.N.S.C army troopers have engaged the covenants main forward intelligence base which is located in the BXR mining facility, troopers on site have already engaged. Assist where needed and push through." Carter informed over comms.

I took a hard left and drove towards the BXR facility. The bridge leading in was heavily blocked with concrete dividers, the army troopers popping in and out of cover, obviously suppressed by the two shade turrets on either side of the bridge. I pulled up behind and Kat fired of a salvo of missals of the shade turret to our right. The troops instantly rallied. A Jackal shield wall currently barricaded the middle of the bridge but the troopers shot them down, they weren't going anywhere. Kat turned to the other shade turret and fired, causing a spectacular green explosion.

The shade turret however, managed to make one last lucky shot. "Bail out!" I yelled and dove out of the warthog, Kat quickly following. The warthog exploded, a sad waste of an asset. Kat stood up and crouch walked towards the troopers, shielding her visor from covenant fire. "We been pinned down for the last half hour mam, if we break through, we can secure the facility and be one step closer to victory. But there's one problem, the covenant mean business here!" The soldier cried, "Yes we all know the covenant mean business here soldier." I muttered under my breath. The soldier didn't seem fazed, "No, not that, we had visual on an elite Zealot inside the facility."

Kat froze, "Well, now were onto to something here." Carter, listening to the entire conversation over the comms, butted in, "Eyes on the prize noble, take out the elite zealot if you can, but focus on securing the facility." Kat nodded silently and nudged me. "You see that machine gun turret, take it!" I nodded and prepared to run, "Cover me!" I yelled. As one the army troopers popped out of cover and open fired on the jackal shield wall. The jackals whimpered and raised their shields.

I manned the machine gun turret but then a thought occurred to me, 'Jorge.' I smiled as I ripped the turret of its hinges. I waddled as fast as I could, the 150-pound emplacement weighing me down. I knelt behind cover once again and upon seeing the machine gun turret off its hinges, a trooper yelped loudly. I smiled, 'well, this will be fun.' I stood up and open fired on the jackals, the shield wall crumpling like paper. Kat, this was obviously not what she had in mind, decided to go with it. "Keep pressing." she muttered in my ear as she placed her hand on my shoulder for support and whipped out her pistol and picked the remaining jackals off. The soldiers filed in one by one behind us, a shot gunner in the front, two men armed with assault rifles in the middle, a marksmen armed with a DMR and a Sniper with a sniper rifle bringing up the rear.

I strode up a flight of stairs, 2 elites feebly stood in the way, I mowed the first one down, and the shot gunner blasted the second. We passed through hallway after hallway till we rounded the corridor and saw our prize. "There!" the sniper yelled, obviously surprised. The Zealot stumbled towards a ghost, a grunt in the passenger seat, who was promptly thrown out and was promptly pegged by the marksmen. "Permission to engage sir?" The sniper asked quietly, kneeling, ready to fire. "Permission granted, waste him." The sniper fired and pulled a quick, clean headshot on the quickly retreating elite. I nodded in satisfaction as the ghost swerved out of control and crashed into the canyon side.

"2 and 6, is that facility clear?" Carter asked. "Yes sir, all hostiles including the elite Zealot engaged and destroyed." Kat stated proudly, I grinned. "Well done team, your next objective is very simple. Apparently, O.N.I overlooked a particularly well placed Anti Air gun, it's been wrecking havoc on the entire invasion force, take it out if you can. I'm marking it on you navigational list… now." A small blue dot popped up and I examined it, two miles. "Hey noble 1, any chance of a lift, the objectives a bit far…" I trailed off.

"Sorry noble, your on your own, we can't air drop anything and we can't give an air lift, not until you take out that anti air. Carter out." I sighed, 'well, what do we do now?' I turned to the Army troopers, "Set up a defensive perimeter, you need to hold out, our objective are further along the road." I turned to Kat, looking for ideas.

Kat scratched her chin, "That might just work." She went down the stairs of the facility and towards the parking lot. All the civilian models were downright trashed, burning wrecks. The covenant vehicles, however, were everywhere. 3 ghosts and a revenant lined the road, the revenant slightly damaged but the ghosts were clearly in working order. Kat walked over and inspected the ghosts.

"Yes," she muttered, "Yes, this could work." She hopped in a ghost and after looking at the controls, hit a red button covered in black runes. The Ghost roared to life, its hovering system placing it a few feet of the ground. Kat congratulated herself and nodded towards another ghost a few feet away. I shook my head and got in. The ghost felt strangely like a motorcycle, with a special dashboard immersing my head. I saw everything and a small twin circle appeared in the middle of my screen. I hit the button like Kat did and the ghost roared to life. "The twin handle bars are just like a mongoose," Kat called, "There's a small trigger behind each of the handles that fires the plasma cannon, the handle bars only control the direction, this allows you to strafe side to side, there are acceleration pedals at you feet, push them at the same time to accelerate forwards, Good Luck!" Kat yelled as she rode down the path.

I quickly followed. I soon caught up to Kat and grinned, 'this was great!' We rocketed down the path before finding a patrol of covenant grunts lead by an elite, likely sent to recapture the BXR facility. We open fired on the patrol as they looked up in surprise, the elite crumpling under the fire. The grunts screamed as we drove through the midst of them, open firing as we rammed through their ranks. They cried in fear and I wheeled around and open fired, cutting them down quickly.

I gave a thumbs up to Kat and we continued down the trail. In no time we were at the final AA gun. I turned to Kat and nodded and together we flew over a ridge. A hunter pair sluggishly turned around, obviously surprised. I lined its head up in my sights and released Hades on it. It roared as it tried to raise its gun but it succumbed under the heavy fire quickly. Judging from the second shriek of pain, the other hunter suffered a similar fate. We wheeled around to face the AA gun and saw that the only thing that stood before us was the bulbous blue body of a wraith. Brilliant.

I open fired on its hull, obviously doing little or no damage at all. Kat was a little more accurate, taking out the gunner manning the plasma turret. "The structural weakness is the back end exhaust vent, hit it there!" Kat called. We wheeled around and open fired, the wraith tried to turn to face us but we nimbly stayed behind it. Eventually, blue flames appeared and the wraith promptly exploded. I turned to the gun and blasted at the inside, taking out the crew. I blasted the core just like the other 2 and the gun finally exploded in a fiery oblivion. I hopped out and brushed fake dust of my armor.

Kat keyed into the communication base, "Noble 1, this is Noble 2, final AA gun has been neutralized, how copy?" Carter quickly responded, "Noble 2, this is Noble 1, solid copy, we need one of you to set up and oversee a forward operating base. The other will leave towards the covenant spire on a falcon, noble 5 to assist." Kat looked puzzled, "Sir, spire sir?" Carter quickly keyed back, "The covenant have a teleporting spire that is receiving additional troops and supplies from an unknown source, we need to level it. How copy?" Carter asked.

I sighed and butted in, "Confirmed Noble 1, Kat will oversee forwards base, and I'll head with noble 5 to assist in destruction of spire. Noble 6, out."

Kat nodded and turned towards two inbound pelican drop ships, each loaded with troops and equipment. A Falcon lead the way and quickly landed, Jorge gesturing frantically at me. I jogged to the waiting bird, manned the gun on the right side and greeted Jorge. "Lovely day, isn't it?" I asked with fake pleasantries, Jorge grunted, "It's only a pleasant day when the covenant are off of Reach. I nodded in agreement and looked at the weapon in front of me. Much like the grenade launcher I was carrying, this door-mounted grenade-launching turret fired grenades with the auto detonation and manual detonation, but it had one main difference to my handheld, it was auto feed. This meant I didn't have to reload and the gun fired much faster than normal.

I grinned and clicked the bolt in place. The pilot started up the engines and we lifted off. "Targets up front, 11 o'clock!" The pilot yelled. I swiveled forwards, took aim and squeezed the trigger. A grenade soared towards the marching covenant patrol, blasting the bridge they were walking on to pieces. I smiled, 'this will be interesting.' The pilot nodded at the carnage, "Listen, to get to the spire, we've got to fly directly over the frontline, those covenant wraith's would obviously love nothing more than to shoot a human whirly bird out of the sky. The fighting should lighten up as soon as we pass into range of the spire. Keep them suppressed and we'll come out all right. Let's fly!" The pilot yelled and the falcon soared over the battlefield.

I looked down and spotted multiple covenant wraiths moving into position in an attempt try and shoot us down. I blasted a manual detonation right into their midst, short circuiting their systems. I started firing on auto detonation, the wraiths armor crumpling like tissue. I engaged covenant ground forces as well, and while they posed a much lesser threat, they still needed to be dealt with.

Eventually we made our way over the final bit of U.N.S.C occupied ground, we received a distress signal. "-all U.N.S.C air support, we are requesting immediate air support on a large scale covenant grouping." The pilot turned back to us, I nodded and he replied, "To U.N.S.C ground forces, this is Hummingbird 3-4-2, we are responding to your distress call, sit tight, out."

We pulled over a small group of nine soldiers crouching behind the burned out remains of three warthogs. The covenant were coming down hard on them from all sides, barely giving them room to breath. With their backs to the cliff side, they had no way out. That would change shortly. The pilot hovered above the squadron and gave me a steady platform. I saw seven wraiths inbound on their position, plus covenant foot soldiers numbering in their hundreds. I dealt with the wraiths, the hulking metal crisps quickly falling to the ground. The Covenant troops scattered and I picked them off. After a couple minute, a voice was contacting us over the radio. The pilot immediately responded.

"Hummingbird 3-4-2, this is Jacobson 6-1-5, inbound to pick up troopers in distress, requesting cover until evacuation is complete." A pelican operator asked over the radio, the pilot responded, "Jacobson 6-1-5, this is hummingbird 3-4-2, copy your last, we will provide fire support, make this quick, were drawing attention and I have other objectives."

Thirty seconds later, a pelican hovered below us, the troopers quickly filing in. We are going to pick up a sniper squadron encountering heavy fire, thanks for the assistance, Jacobson 6-1-5, out."

Jorge gave me an eye, "That must be June, we better hurry, this invasion is almost finished." After a few minutes, we pulled alongside the spire. A thin veil of blue plasma formed a thin dome, with the center originating at the tip of the spire. The pilot hovered to a stop above us. "Sorry son, but we need to go in there." Jorge insisted. The pilot swallowed and flew through. Fifteen seconds later, the engine short-circuited and lost power.

"Mayday, MAYDAY! This is hummingbird 3-4-2 going down at poppa niner bravo delta grid square 632 mayday, MAYDAY!" the pilot screamed. "LOCK YOUR ARMOR!" Jorge yelled. I did as I was told, and thirty-five feet above the ground I fell out.

When I came around, my vision was blurry, a metallic taste filling my mouth. Blood. I shook it of and stood up. I looked over at the wreck, not liking what I was seeing. The cockpit was a maze of cracks but I could clearly see that the pilot was dead. Jorge was buried under rubble but his vitals were clearly showing. I walked over and grasped his hand, typing in Noble teams code to unlock his armor. I knelt beside him. He groaned and shook his head.

I offered him a hand, which he gratefully took. He grabbed his chain gun. "Pilots dead, comms are out, we're not going anywhere till the spires down." Jorge nodded. I looked through the wreckage and saw a small backpack with a point tapering down the middle. I put it on and a symbol of a man jumping with fire coming out of his back popped up at the bottom of my screen. Jet pack.

I looked towards the spire, the only way I could find towards its base was through the canyons and outcrops, this is just asking for an ambush. Jorge grunted, "These teleporters are getting on my nerves, lets finish this up nice and quick so we can all go home." I nodded and followed Jorge as we made our way through the catacombs.

Every once and a while, a lone covenant would walk by and I'd gut it from the back. Other times, Jorge would bash its head in. Following this pattern, we slowly made our way through the canyons and up a ridge, were we got a clear view of the spire. Its long tip reached almost half a mile up, with a weird circular base halfway. We watched as a phantom appeared out of nowhere from the middle of the spire and flew of.

"All right 6, I'll deal with these amateurs at ground level, sneak around and find a way to the top, once you disable the shields, we can call Carter and get out of here." I nodded and drew my assault rifle. I followed the ridgeline and finally got behind the spire. I saw an elite Ultra walk into a conical pylon and flew upwards like it had been shot out of a cannon towards the top of the spire. I nodded in satisfaction as I had just found my way up.

The only problem were the two elite minors guarding the teleporter's entrance. I shook my head, "Okay Jorge, I found my way up, but there's guards, now would be a perfect time for a little distraction." Five seconds later, Jorge stood to full height and open fired on the covenant troops. The elites quickly left their positions to combat the new threat. I made my move.

I dove towards the pylon and shot upwards, barely stopping myself from barfing. After reaching the top, I double-checked two things, my ammo counter and then the fact that I wouldn't suddenly lose my lunch of MRE's.

Satisfied with the results, I snuck my way through the command deck. Aside from the elite from earlier, who was dutifully manning the controls of the spires shields, the only other enemies were grunt techs. I almost went for a grenade but a thought occurred to me, 'I need to be careful, one bad move and I might destroy something important.'

I moved behind the elite and grabbed it by the neck, stabbing it in the abdomen, instantly powering it's shields down. It gave a muffled cry causing a drowsy grunt to turn around. If a grunt could go pale, it would have. I popped in in the head with my DMR and turned to the other three, now fully aware of the situation. I held the elite like a hostage, careful not to lose hold of the dog. A grunt foolishly shot at me, instead hitting the elite.

I threw the elite aside and one by one finished the grunts. "Jorge, I have control of the spire, Shutting it down now." I keyed in the commands based on my translator. "-Noble 5, Noble 6, do you copy?" Carter's slightly panicked voice echoed over the mike. "Carter this is Noble 6, the spires shields are down, requesting immediate evacuation." Carters relieved voice replied over the comms, "Good, your safe, listen 6, We've just picked up Jorge, if we don't get you out soon, you'll be blasted by the authorized MAC round that is to be fired by the U.N.S.C Grafton, get to the observation deck!" I almost yelped.

I ran outside to the plasma coated observation deck. While the view was great, I didn't have time to sight see. Carters Falcon pulled up alongside and hovered, I took a deep breath, 1,2,3! I ran and jumped, Jorge reached out his hand and I barely grasped it. He pulled me up, Emile grabbing me by the belt and helping. The pilot floored it out of there.

"To U.N.S.C Grafton, spire shields are down, have fun." Carter yelled over the Comms. "Roger that Noble 6, green light on destruction of spire, MAC rounds have been authorized." This information was obviously new to Jorge, "MAC rounds? In atmosphere?" Jorge asked, slightly stunned, with good reason, MAC rounds were the most powerful weapons in the U.N.S.C, often mounted on the massive frigates for ship-to-ship battles. However these battles were often fought in space, not in atmosphere. These could often be thought of as a short-range nuclear device.

"It's one way to get their attention, hold onto your teeth people!" Carter advised. The Grafton began a shallow dive towards the spire and fired, a long beam of fire blasted the spire to pieces. We all failed to notice the purple light right above the Grafton. A purple beam blasted through the bow of the mighty frigate, gutting it instantly. A course of explosions rocked along the midline of the ship and the Grafton plummeted to the ground.

"Oh, No, This can't be happening!" Jorge said, for once losing his cool, "U.N.S.C Grafton, please respond!" Air control echoed over comms. "Air control, Grafton is dust! There's as CSO-class covenant super carrier right here, we need to get out of here! A pelican, coincidently the one carrying June, fell in line behind us as we descended to pick up Kat and her team. We flew away and watched helplessly and the super carrier mercilessly glassed the remains of the convoy. The comms went completely silent.

A.N. That's a solemn chapter, I hope I did this mission well as it's epic, hope you guys enjoyed the story and remember, I will not update next weekend, as I'm saving that chapter for Christmas. See you next time!

Ipods-And-Buds-1239


	8. A long night

**Into the Dark and Forward unto Dawn 8**

A.N. Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukah! Have a great whatever you celebrate, I had a great Christmas, got a new Ipod, Black Ops 2, everything! I had a blast and my neighbors got a dog, it's adorable, I hope this Chapters good enough as a present, have fun!

Reviews:

WingGundamZero98: I loved the previous chapter, it's a great mission and I hope I did the mission proud.

aesir21: You are awesome, you never fail to review, man I should give you a virtual medal, (Floating virtual medal!) So I hope I did well to fulfill your wishes, I did my best. You gave great suggestions, thanks! By the way, thanks for having a great taste in stories, I checked out your favorite stories; I love Lord Perseus, Child of Rome, thanks again!

Chapter 8: A long night

Luke's/Carter's/Noble 1 POV

While I was thankful that my team was in one piece, I was not thankful for the fact that there was an all powerful covenant cruiser that could fight of an entire armada of U.N.S.C ships and come out unscathed, right on our doorstep. Nor was I happy about the 4 covenant SDV corvette class cruisers using it as a docking position. Currently we were sitting around a bit of open space inside our little makeshift "Home" planning our next move. Thankfully, all people from the falcon we were on and the pelican that was carrying June were accounted for, the marines spread out along the caverns that riddled the Cliffside of Szurdock range.

We had a small makeshift fire going, eating our MREs, meals ready to eat, which in armed forces speak, puke bags. I barely stomached my "Spaghetti", or was it a "Burger", and watched Jorge, Emile and Kat do the same. All of their faces looked strikingly familiar. As one we put our meals down and looked outside. While we did our best to save survivors from the glassing event, the scarabs were just mopping up now. I shook my head as its gun fired.

We turned back to the fire and finished our "Meals". Auntie Dot, our A.I. informed us of the situation in her same annoying, monotone voice, "While 95% of our local interstellar forces have been destroyed, reinforcements are on the way. 65% of the U.N.S.C fleet is on the way, withdrawing from their deployments; all have been authorized to use slipspace to return to Reach as quickly as possible. Estimated rendezvous time is 48 hours.

Emile shook his head, "That's not fast enough." He turned as June and Shadow walked in, June with her Sniper rifle, Shadow with a pair of high-powered Soflam issue binoculars. Shadow shook his head, "It's not good out there, the covenant are swarming, we'd be lucky to even fly out with all of us intact." June sat down next to Jorge, "All right, what's your money on this time?" June asked. Jorge looked up and stared at Kat, "Her."

Kat looked up and smiled, as all activity ceased. "You always pick her." June replied, not surprised. "She always has him dialed in." Jorge replied. Kat stood up, "That thing," She gestures outside to the quickly ascending covenant super carrier, "is crushing us, and they want us to sit tight and wait for reinforcements?" Emile nodded, "They'd be backing up a graveyard."

I butted in, "All our nukes are either out of system or went down with the ships that carried them. You're preaching to the converted." I said with finality. Kat walked over to me and sat down, "How converted?" She looked at me, visor to visor. "I know that look Kat." I said shaking my head. "You can say no." Kat said innocently, I immediately replied "No.

"Don't even want to hear it?" Kat feigned in fake surprise. "… Fine, I'll hear it." Kat stood and patted my shoulder, "Do you all remember that incident with the transport ship on Cygnus prime? 700 hundred dead?" Kat stood and spun so that she faced everyone. We all nodded.

"Yeah," Shadow spoke up, "Slipspace malfunction, ripped the ship in two, sent the remains that passed through the slipspace portal on a collision with a star." Emile piped up, "That I did not know." Shadow froze with understanding, then nodded, "That could work." Everyone turned from Shadow to me. "And how is this relevant?" I asked bluntly. I smiled, "Well, with a little assistance and guidance, a certain covenant cruiser could, well, suffer a similar fate." Shadow nodded.

"Even for you Kat that's a little…" I trailed off. "Inspired?" Kat asked mockingly. "Not the work I would use." Emile muttered. Kat walks over and reaches for Emile's kukri blade, a knife that's started straight, then bent diagonally, then straight again, only the best close range fighters could carry it. This one was black, looking a lot like, no the U.N.S.C could never have access to stygian iron. Emile stopped her, "Please?" Kat asked. Emile sighed, "Don't cut yourself." He handed her the knife a Kat knelt by a bit of flat, unused dirt.

"Objective? Destroy the Covenant super carrier that is in geosynchronous orbit with us." She drew the covenant super carriers interior design, something she had memorized, "Method? Slipspace drive malfunction in lieu to the nukes we don't have." She drew a small cylinder in the middle hanger deck, "Delivery system? Us." Kat finished up and hand Emile his blade, who took it grudgingly and started to clean it of.

"So all we need is orbital transport and the single most expensive piece of equipment known to man. Not to mention running it by Holland, who might be dead." Kat nodded "As a soldier in the field I couldn't possibly have access to those kinds of resources, that said, a good place to look might be... I don't know, the nearest nonexistent launch site in the nonexistent Sabre Program, dismissed by three administrations as preposterous rumor... And in which our newest member was certainly never a pilot."

We all looked and Shadow, who shook his head, "You scare me sometimes, you know that right?" Kat nodded and walked over to a bag in the corner of the room, pulled something out and tossed it to me. "All we need is the green light from Holland, Good luck as I'm sure as heck not calling him." She shuffled out of the room, quickly followed by everyone else. I shook my head, 'There's no was in hades that he'll go along with this.'

Half an hour later we were on our way to the nearest sabre launch facility, with June and Emile staying behind to oversee the evacuation of the marines. I was still shaking my head at Kat's plan, 'this is insane.' Aside from me, Kat, who had no choice but to come along, Jorge who was sitting on my left and Shadow, who was sitting on the left side turret. I turned to Kat, "This goes south, it' all on you." She smiled, "It won't, we have our little expert here." She nodded over to Shadow. "How did you even get access to that file?" Shadow asked, "I have my ways." Kat mysteriously replied.

Apparently the Sabre program was a top-secret program designed by O.N.I to combat the covenant in their fight against humanity's space fleet. Multiple launch sites littered the landscape on every planet; the ships themselves being designed, made and maintained by O.N.I approved techs. The Sabers themselves were heavily armed fighter planes made to fight banshees, phantoms and other small planes out of orbit. Shadow, by Kat's knowledge, was an approved pilot.

The pilot pulled up along the southern shore of the Farkas Lake. The facility was apparently on the northern side of the lake, a 2-mile hike from here to there. However, based on scattered, muffled transmissions here and there, this was as close as we could get to the compound without getting shot down. Jorge jumped out of the right side skid, the falcon shaking as 700 pounds of Spartan fell out from the passenger deck. I followed on the left side, than Kat, than Shadow. The pilot hovered and looked to me, "Anything else sir?"

I shook my head, "You flew well son, head back and support the evacuation." He nodded and I watched as the falcon flew away in the direction from which we came. "Bit of a hike isn't it?" Jorge asked bluntly, "Sorry man, this is as close as we can get, covenant found the place last night, they're bombing it to pieces as we speak." He nodded and turned towards the direction of what could easily be mistaken as thunder. "Noble, double-time it." I ran forward.

As I ran, I checked my ammo, DMR full magazine, 96 rounds in reserve, Magnum, 48 rounds in reserve, Armor lock at the ready. We weaved in and out of rocky outcrops, which stood tall, despite being riddled with a combination of erosion and plasma. Kat fell in just behind me, followed by Shadow and Jorge. We came to the top of a small ridge over looking the compound and saw a distressful scene.

A square facility sat at the banks of a river, a small make shift barricade guarding the open entrance. Four Wolf spider anti-air turrets sat at the corners, firing without stop. Plasma relentlessly bombarded the pitiful O.N.I strike force guarding the facility. A jackal shield wall slowly encroached on the main gate, flanked by elite officers, streamlined orange yellow shimmering.

Seraphs, large covenant flying saucers, soared through they air, dropping explosive payloads. They were everywhere, the sky filled with them. Blue plasma exhaust trailed off one like a ribbon as it was disabled by an AA turret and crashed into the side of the compound, leaving a gaping hole. A sniper quickly made use of it, taking down an Elite officer. I shook my head. "This is the place." Kat confirmed.

"Spirit drop ships, incoming." Shadow called. Two spirit drop ships slowly flew in. A spirit was in a way, a super phantom; it's shields almost impenetrable except to continuous explosive bombardment. It's cockpit sat at the back of the aircraft, with two massive cylinders protruding forwards, connecting together by thick plasma coils. The sides of the cylinders retracted showing the grunts and jackals underneath, an elite major on each side. One by one, they disconnected and dropped off.

"They haven't spotted us yet, get into position, I'm going to hail the leading officer." Kat nodded and slid down the slope, Jorge and Shadow close behind. I crouched and connected to the emergency channel the base was sending out blindly. "Sabre launch platform 1, this is special warfare team Noble, how copy?" I asked, "Noble team, this is sergeant Jack Winters, I'm the officer in charge of the facility at this point." I grunted, "What happened to your lieutenant?" Winters quickly replied, "Lieutenant Ronaldo has been K.I.A, the covenant came late last night, snuck through the roof and blasted through the inner corridors, the lieutenant ordered for me to seal the inner corridors, with him inside. We can't get in, it's hardwired, and they can't get out."

I nodded, 'Kat could fix that.' "Sergeant, we are at position foxtrot alpha, moving to assist, Noble one, out." I closed the channel and looked at the sniper, he stared right back at me and left. I joined Kat. "How do you want to approach this sir?" She asked upon my arrival. The rest of present Noble team was hunkered down behind a rock, staring at the spirits that had recently finished dropping their reinforcements and had started to fly away.

"The covenant don't know were here, the faster we take them out, the faster operation UpperCut can commence." Kat nodded. When we finally got in touch with Colonel Holland, he was less than ecstatic about Kat's plan, but with no other available options, agreed to go through with it. While I don't know the full details, I didn't need to, as soon as Shadow took off, I would be on my way to New Alexandria, Reaches most populous city to help break the covenant siege.

I turned my team and made a slit throat gesture, we needed the element of surprise. I snuck up right behind a grunt, which was watching the battle with glee. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw everyone else do the same. I slammed the butt of my DMR on the top of the grunt head, knocking it to the floor, unconscious. I pulled out my knife, standard issue and slit its throat. I turned to see the rest of the team do the same, a pair of grunts and a elite major, Shadows handiwork, quickly fall. One thing ruined it.

As Jorge raised his chain gun over his head, ready to bring it down and knock his target grunt to the floor, the grunt turned and screamed as load as its little lungs could. While Jorge finished the job, the remaining elite officer turned and yelled in surprise. It pointed towards us and raised its plasma repeater, a rapid-fire plasma pistol.

I glared at Jorge, "Jorge!" He shrugged his shoulders. A Ghost, ferried in on the belly of a spirit hurtled towards Shadow, who rolled out of the way. It floored it towards me. I raised my gun but then thought, I don't have ammo to spare. I activated armor lock. The ghost made a head on collision, directly into me. I didn't budge. The same could not be said for the ghost.

The ghost flipped end over end upon impact, before rolling to a stop, ablaze. It exploded; I looked for the elite driver. A large splash in the lake informed of its fate. Shadow had knelt in front of me, covering me with rapid pistol fire. Grunts fell with surprising ease. As soon as I was up, he pulled me over to covered rock, Kat and Jorge already there. Jorge was focusing his attention on the elites, leaving Kat the unlucky confused grunt here and there.

I moved forward, ready to break the covenant line but Shadow stopped me. "Heads up, Covenant OID pods!" I looked up and saw multiple small purple pods, many shaped like blunt spear tips, fall frighteningly fast before impacting the ground. The first door flew off, revealing an elite spec ops. I immediately open fired, followed by the rest of Noble. The doors of the rest of the pods, roughly 7 in total, flew off, all containing elites.

"Noble, advance through the rocks, fire on sight!" I yelled before sprinting up the lines, popping grunts as I went. The elites made a beeline to Shadow, all in the open, but he was doing fine. While Shadow kept his load out light, saying a heavy kit would restrict him from flying, he was packed with grenades. He threw them as he weaved in and out of the rocks, the grenades detonating, clearing out grunts and destroying elite shields. Kat would appear sporadically, finishing off the elites with a headshot.

Jorge advanced right up the middle, guns blazing. Nothing stood a chance. Very quickly, we cleared the lakes coastline, the jackal shield wall failing with one well-thrown grenade from Shadow. We vaulted over the barricade, sergeant Winters quickly greeted us, "Thanks for the hand sir, we can hold from here, I'll lead the way inside." I nodded and he took off into the facility.

We ascended a staircase and came upon the hole caused by the crashed seraph. A sniper sat here, peering out. He sat relatively still until a blue plasma mortar flew into the bases wall, inches from his face, "Wraith and 12 o'clock!" Shadow turned and picked up a spare rocket launcher lying in the corner. He stood calmly and blasted the impending wraith; it's exterior splitting in half. He dropped the now empty launcher and turned back to us.

We walked forward but one thing stopped our advance, a concrete, sealed piston operated wall. "It's been locked since the covenant found our facility." Kat stepped forwards, "I got this." A tech stepped forwards, "Pfft, like you could unlock it, if I couldn't no one can." I shook my head at the O.N.I operator's vanity. Kat had it open in five seconds flat, the techs mouth dropped. Jorge, Shadow and I made it a point to shove past him as we entered the facility. "Corporal Karl, go and secure the entrance." The O.N.I tech started to object, "No buts." Winters ordered.

As the corporal walked away, Winters smiled, "That sexist pig has been a pain in my butt for years. Its good to put him in his place." I nodded. "Now lets see what the damage is." The marine stated grimly and led the way.

The inside of the base was riddled with a combination of bullet holes and plasma burns. Marine and covenant corpses alike littered the floor. I didn't see a single living thing the entire walk through the facility. As we rounded the final corner, Shadow steeped forward and signaled stop. An elite officer slunk through the hallway, back turned to us. Shadow crept forwards. He jumped up, placing a hand on its shoulder for balance. It cried as it toppled over, face first into the ground. Shadow finished it with a pistol to the head.

"Nice catch sir, anything else?" Winters whispered. Shadow turned slowly in a full 360 degree circle before responding, "No, that's the last covenant inside the base, at the moment of course." Shadow nodded grimly, before walking towards a closed door. I followed quickly. The door was shut, locked tight. "Kat, could you…" Kat brushed past me, smirking. She knelt and fingered the circuits near the door. She shook her head and sighed, "Its not sealed electronically, this is barricaded, we have to smash through it." I nodded.

"The Sabres launch booth is through those doors, if we smash through, we can have the Sabre in the air within five minutes." Shadow walked forwards and pulled something from his thigh pouch, before mounting it on the door. He backed up and knelt behind a smashed metal table and gestured at us to do the same. I hid behind a small metal support pillar, wondering what was going on. Shadow thumbed a small red button on his wrist. The door imploded, flying backwards, before clattering against the wall behind it.

Shadow immediately left his cover spot, pistol raised. Winters followed. "Come on Noble team, we're almost there." I ran through the doorway and watched as Shadow turned to me, "All clear." I nodded and turned towards a blast proof window. A small white button blinked, I turned to Kat, who nodded, before pressing it lightly. Light flickered on, illuminating our objective.

The Sabre was prepped and ready, multiple blinking lights lining its sleek body. A glass cockpit sat at the top, with space for two people. A thin cylinder composed the body, widening at the back, with dual engines on either side. More engines lined the end of the body. Two thin wings jutted out from each engine, with multiple Medusa class aerial combat rockets lining underneath. Beneath the cockpit, a small multi barreled mini-gun jutted out, rounds already chambered. Four large orange fuel reserves were fitted on the sides, which would allow it to leave atmosphere, it wouldn't be able to do alone.

"Shadow, get to the Sabre before the covenant break through and wreck it!" I yelled. Shadow scrambled out the door, across a thin catwalk, before hitting a small button on the catwalk's edge, bordering the Sabre. A ladder extended upwards before firmly connecting with the Sabres cockpit. The cockpit slid forward, allowing Shadow access. I turned from the scene to Jorge, who was watching quietly, "Go with him." Jorge nodded and lumbered down the catwalk, climbing wearily up the ladder.

Percy's/Shadow's/Noble 6

I climbed into the cockpit, sliding down the seat, joystick firmly clenched in my hand. I turned suddenly as Jorge slid in, "Don't worry man, I'm just a passenger on this one." I nodded and turned forward, I barely heard Jorge talking to Carter, "What about you guys?" Jorge asked, Carter quickly responded, "June and Emile just finished evacuating everyone from Szurdock range, their coming to pick us up." Jorge nodded, relieved.

I looked sideways and saw the control booth, Winters waving and pulling out a key to authorize launch. He twisted it in its designated keyhole and a robotic voice sounded over comms, "Struts disengaged. Commencing launch in T-minus 5, 4, 3, 2,1." The Sabre shook violently and slowly lifted of the ground. "Oh, I think I'm going to be sick!" Jorge slowly informed, I smiled, I remember my first Sabre launch.

We soon rose above the cloud cover, and I briefly saw the flash of another Sabre leaving its facility. We slowly exited atmosphere and entered low orbit, a thin shudder resonated through the hull. "First stage engine burn nominal, stage separation commencing." The four orange fuel cases fell off, left to the fate of burning in orbit, "Stage separation completed, launch successful." The computer finished and shut down.

I turned to Jorge, who was holding his hand over his mouth, shaking his head. 'Sorry Jorge.' I jettisoned forwards into U.N.S.C controlled space. Colonel Holland's voice echoed over comms, "Holland to Sabre Echo 1 over?" Jorge looked confused, "Jorge, your in charge of comms." I stated. Jorge quickly got over his nausea and nodded, quickly keying in Holland and responded, "Roger that colonel Holland, we read you loud and clear, go ahead."

"Affirmative Sabre Echo 1, welcome to Operation Uppercut. I'll be your commanding officer from here through the course of the operation." Holland stated. "Understood sir." Jorge confirmed. "Sabre Echo 1, you've been out of the pilot seat of a Sabre for a while, time for you to get reacquainted, rendezvous with U.N.S.C heavy frigate Savannah as soon as possible, Holland out." Holland keyed off.

I turned to our orbital fortress, Anchor 9, a space elevator armed with multiple MAC guns. Two massive "Cradle" refuel and repair ships floated around, their huge circular cores spinning. Bits and pieces of ships being repaired filled space. I turned and saw that four Sabres had fallen into formation behind me, two on each side. "We should get going, their waiting and," Jorge paused and turned, as if looking for something, "Scratch that, we have multiple unknown contacts closing fast!" Jorge informed.

"Sabre Echo 1, Sabre Echo 5, I've spotted multiple boogies closing fast on Anchor 9's outer defenses." Sabre Echo 5 informed, "Sabre team Echo, this is Holland, when we previously drove back the CSO Covenant Carrier, it managed to knock out our defenses, I'm ordering you to protect our defensive batteries until they are back online, I'll keep you posted, Holland out."

I swerved around as blue plasma coursed towards us, the Sabre formation quickly breaking. Multiple Banshee formations cruised towards us; we were out numbered, five to one. "All Sabres select a formation and engage on sight." Jorge called. I swerved towards the leading formation, mini-gun rattling. The lead banshee exploded, a violent shade of red, blue and purple shimmering. I adjusted course slightly right, blasting the wing tip of a middle banshee. The banshee spun right, into the banshee following it. The remaining banshees flew past us.

I wheeled around, and watched as the banshees pursued our defensive batteries. I pulled up behind and let lose with the mini-gun, rounds thundering through the closed cockpit. The remaining banshee spun sideways, attempting evasive maneuver through Anchor 9's surrounding debris. I matched it turn for turn, blasting all the way. It slowly lost control and slammed into the side of a stray asteroid, the asteroid falling to small, non-lethal pieces.

"Nice job 6, but could we avoid massive maneuvers that require loops and turns, the ride up was bad enough on my stomach, the last thing I need is to scrape barf of the inside of my helmet." Jorge informed, groaning. I shook my head, "Just be happy you're not in a banshee." I teased before wheeling around to face the remaining Sabres. All was well, except for the Sabre being trailed by a banshee. "Sabre Echo 1, Sabre Echo 3, I got a banshee on my tail, can't shake him, please get this thing off of me?" Sabre Echo three requested.

I quickly obliged, pulling up behind the banshee, who was oblivious to my approach. I ran him down, as the cockpit quickly depressurized, the bullet holes quickly leaking oxygen. The banshee slowed to a stop, slowly becoming dead in space. I pulled up along side Sabre Echo 3 and Jorge called, "Sabre Echo 3, tail eliminated." Sabre Echo 3 quickly responded, "Roger that Sabre Echo 1, thanks for the hand."

I wheeled us around, watching as the Sabres mopped up. Banshees were chew toys for us. "Sabre team, Holland, defensive batteries at 56%, keep up the good work, multiple fighter class boogies entering Anchor 9's perimeter, take them down." Holland ordered. Jorge looked to me as multiple Seraphs entered the battlefield, five in total, one for each of us. "Want to say anything 6?" Jorge asked cautiously. I nodded.

"Sabre team, this is Sabre Echo 1, pair up and take on the Seraphs one at a time, use your Mini-guns to break their shields, then hit them with you missiles." Acknowledgement lights went off, indicating that they all got the message. I turned to see the Sabres grouping up on the seraphs, with the first sabre firing its mini-gun while the other finished it. I found two free seraphs, making their way towards the Savannah. I pulled up behind and watched, slowly turning on the Mini-gun.

The seraphs were not as fast or maneuverable as banshees, but they had one key difference, they had energy shielding. Missiles would have no effect until the shields were down, this would require accurate and continuous fire. I pulled up behind and began to fire. The Seraphs took little notice, so I quickly finished off the first ones shields. I switched to missiles, locked on quickly, and fired. Four high-powered missiles flew towards the seraphs, a brilliant explosion occurred. That got their attention. The remaining Seraph broke away, spinning to the right. I spun sideways, barely clearing some debris.

The Seraph wove sluggishly through debris; slowly making it's way around, attempting to flank us. I followed and ran it down, following move for move until it entered the main battlefield, where the rest of Sabre team and the remaining seraphs were caught in a nasty dogfight. My seraph flew past another seraph, barely clearing each other. Another Sabre quickly followed. "Sabre Echo 4, Sabre Echo 1, get ready!" I yelled. I locked on to my seraph and fired a generous salvo of missiles, causing an explosion. The other Seraph exploded as well and I wheeled away from the explosion. I watched as Sabre Echo 4 erupted through the explosion right towards us.

I turned downwards, barely clearing Sabre Echo 4, I could have sworn I heard our wings touch. "Whew, that was close." Sabre Echo 4 called in relief, I turned grinning to Jorge, an entirely different scene was playing out. Jorge was shaking terribly, obviously not happy. When Sabre team finished of the Seraphs and we were flying on a safe, clear path, Jorge leaned forward and smacked me hard in the back of the head. "Don't you ever, EVER, do that again!" He roared. I smiled.

"Sabre teams, all contacts destroyed, defenses at 96%, almost there." Holland informed. I lead the Sabres back into formation and pulled in front of anchor 9. "Oh, no." Jorge muttered. "Sabre team Echo, large hostile force numbering in the hundreds have entered Anchor 9's perimeter, buy us another 10 seconds." Holland called out. Banshees filled the air, leading over 50 seraphs, right towards us. "Open fire Sabre team!" Sabre Bravo 2 yelled. Machine gun fire coursed towards the enemy fleet, hardly making a dent.

"All U.N.S.C personnel, this is Colonel Holland, Anchor 9's defensive batteries are back online, clear the area." Holland informed, barely containing his relief. The Sabres pulled straight up, out of the line of fire and watched a blood bath take form. Anchor 9's defenses filled the air, heavy turret fire, small grade MAC round fire and guided rockets flew forward. Within minutes, the entire enemy convoy was wasted. We cautiously pulled into range, assessing the carnage. "Holland, this is Sabre Echo 1, all contacts, engaged and destroyed." Jorge informed. "All right Sabre Echo 1, pull in to your designated hanger. Holland out." Holland said triumphantly.

A small glowing blue hanger slowly opened, a blue marker showed up on my HUD, this was the place. I pulled in slowly. Two large, robotic hands gripped the sides of the Sabre, holding it in place. "Double check your emergency oxygen supply." Jorge called before hitting the cockpit canopy release switch. "Warning, Cockpit depressurization requested." the Sabre's computer informed in an emotionless, monotone voice. "Shadow, I need your override." Jorge asked.

I confirmed the release, "Warning, Cockpit depressurization authorized." The cockpit slipped backwards and Jorge pulled himself out, floating upwards and hitting the hanger roof with a thud. I smiled; he's obviously had little experience with out of atmosphere combat, or movement for that matter. He grabbed downwards and pushed off the stationary Sabre, gliding towards a nearby hanger. He floated inside and grabbed onto something. A pelican maneuvered outwards, metal claws guiding it. Mechanics maneuvered around with thruster packs, attaching a giant blue and grey device to the vehicle bay of the pelican, roughly the size of a warthog.

Jorge looked at the device then back down to Reach, which looked quite small. "Hoc frangit cor meum." Jorge said to himself. "Noble 5, please repeat." Auntie Dot requested, her monotone robotic voice showing no emotion. He looked down at Reach and I followed his gaze. A huge explosion the color of a rainbow erupted, followed by another, than a third. "Dot, could you pull up surface grid 19-22 on my HUD please?" Jorge asked solemnly. "Gladly, surface grid 19-22, O.N.I. Sword Base."

"Thermal enhance." Jorge requested. Jorge shook his head and turned away. "Noble 5, your pulse seems elevated, you do realize that there is nothing you can do for Doctor Halsey and the others at Sword Base, the mathematics are determinate, and… Noble 5? Noble 5?" Jorge turned slowly, "I know." He growled. He climbed aboard the Pelican and watched as the Mechanics drifted inside the hanger. The Pelican detached, floating towards the now detached U.N.S.C heavy frigate Savannah. The Sabres followed.

"Sabre Echo 1, your cleared to disengage from hanger." A voice appeared over comms. The claws detached from my Sabre and I reversed out of the hanger, I turned on the engines and rushed to catch up to the rest of the fleet. I joined the Sabre fleet and lead the formation. We pulled up alongside the Savannah; Jorge's pelican close behind, sitting in the center of our formation. Holland's voice began mission briefing, "To all U.N.S.C personnel, Operation Uppercut is at go, our objective, destroy CSO Covenant Super Carrier "Long Night of Solace." We have flagged a Corvette class carrier on a predicted docking and refueling run with our overall target. We are to secure the corvette and place the slipspace bomb, Noble 5 to assist. Noble 6 will land and secure the main hanger for our bomb. We will set the corvette on an automated docking run and our delivery system is set."

"Like I've stated, Noble 6, you and you alone are to secure the main hanger, I can't risk anymore men. I'm sticking my head out on this one son, get it done." Holland directed to me, I quickly responded, "Yes sir." Holland continued, "As she's kindly donated her slipspace drive to the cause, U.N.S.C Savannah and Sabre team Echo to provide local fire support on target."

"All U.N.S.C personnel, U.N.S.C Savannah, our wings may be clipped, but we've got you back." Captain Kristof Jen responded over comms. "Good luck everyone, the fate of Reach rests in your capable hands, good luck. Holland out."

We pulled away from Anchor 9, Savannah leading the way.

We slowly left U.N.S.C controlled space and entered the covenant occupied region. The large bulbous body of the corvette slowly came into view. The ship vaguely resembled some sort of deep-sea creature, like a sea cucumber. But just one of these ship could easily level a low class frigate. And there were four surrounding Reach's borders. "This is Noble 6, I have visual on covenant corvette."

"Understood Noble 6, Sabre team Echo, sound off." Captain Kristof ordered. "Sabre Echo 1, sounding off." I called. "Sabre Echo 2, all systems are at go." Sabre Echo 2 answered. "Sabre Echo 3, were ready." Sabre Echo 3 stated. "Sabre Echo 4, all systems are online, lets roll." Sabre Echo 4 finished. "Solid copy Sabre team, we are currently jamming covenant comms, they can't squawk, hit em hard." Kristof said, pulling into position. "Agreed, Sabre team, clear out the corvette's defenses."

"Holland, this is noble 5, might want to clip the corvettes engines, it'll buy us the time we need." Jorge suggested. I could've sworn Holland smiled, "Good thinking son, Sabre team, I'm marking the engines of the corvette, make Noble six's job a bit easier." I saw four blue markers pop up, showing the engines. I pulled into position and started to lock on, but blue plasma flew towards me, I broke lock and swerved away. Banshees swerved out from the main docking center, in the underbelly of the corvette.

"Sabre teams, break formation and engage on sight." I ordered and pulled in behind a formation of banshees. I ran them down, firing unguided missiles, taking out the lead bird, the explosion enveloping the second and third in formation and causing the others to scatter. I quickly followed and watched as they turned their sight on the pelican. I pulled in behind and clipped their wings, causing them to spin. They spun right into each other; multiple purple shards collided with the cockpits glass encasing.

I swerved into position above the pelican, "Sabre team, Sabre Echo 1, keep them suppressed, I'm taking out the engines." I locked on and shot the first engine, causing a brilliant flame and a trail of fire to sprout. The corvette lurched sideways and I pulled away as it attempted to flee. The savannah was not sitting idle. "Sabre team, we have right side engine, focus on the back engines." I pulled away and watched a crescendo of fire blast into the engines. The corvette retaliated, matching the frigate shot for shot. Blues, yellows and reds mixed together, a rainbow quickly forming.

I pulled behind and blasted the backside engines, causing brilliant explosions. The corvette barely topped docking speed, we had about 15 minutes to mount the bomb, set the timer, disable comms for good and leave. "Sabre Echo 1, find an entrance and get to work." "Noble 6, I've found an exposed entrance, some form of skylight, set down and fight your way to the main hanger, secure it and make your way through the ships corridors to the main cockpit, good luck son."

A small, perfect circle of transparent plasma sat at the top, under an arch lined with flares. I pulled in, through the plasma circle and set down with a solid thud. As I hopped out, Holland called, "Noble 6, Savannahs counter measures won't last forever, hurry up and don't get pinned down." I climbed down the retracting ladder and turned to see an elite Ranger jetpack upwards. It cocked its head and raised a plasma repeater, aimed in my direction. I darted towards it but floated upwards, I finally realized it, there was no gravity.

The elite looked like it was laughing, but no sound came out as it was inside a vacuum-sealed suit. It started to raise its rifle again but I was ready, I had done my fair share of fighting in zero gravity. I kicked of the ceiling, right towards the elite, which was to busy gloating to realize I had touched the ground again. "Divert grip to boots, full strength." I requested.

I stood solidly on the ground, staring at the elite before blasting my magnum. The round barely broke the shields but it did send the elite flying. I kept firing, cracking its shield before finishing it off with a headshot. The elite floated towards the wall, lightly coming to a stop. I jumped forwards and examined the body. A grey light appeared on the elites cold dead hands, I hit it and something ejected of its back. I grabbed it.

A jet pack appeared in my HUD, I turned off gripping on my boots and floated downwards, hitting the floor. A large facility sat below a similar transparent plasma shield. I readied my pistol and blasted downwards, landing without a sound. I looked and saw only the covenant in sealed in vacuums suits had survived. No oxygen remained. I walked towards a big spire. "This looks important." I muttered and pulled out C4, an explosive out of my thigh pocket.

I placed it on the spire and started to run, shoving a grunt out of the way. I shot down the hall, jet pack blazing, plasma flying by me. Strangled cries filled the corridor as I detonated the explosive. I kept running, saw doors opening on my left and without looking, chucked in a grenade. It detonated, killing a covenant patrol responding to the explosion. "Holland to U.N.S.C Savannah, comms relay is down, divert all power to weapons systems." Holland ordered, Kristof immediately responded, "Understood sir." 'Huh, comms system, that's what I blew up? Oh well.'

"All right Noble team lets get that bomb aboard, 6, deactivate the shields protecting the main hanger." Holland ordered. I ran into an open room, the main hanger and hardwired the door shut, stopping any pursuers. I slowly turned and an old saying came to mind, "Out of the frying pan, into the fire."

Covenant stared at me in shock; I pushed past a stationary grunt and jet packed upwards. Plasma fire started up, I quickly deactivated shields and slowly poked my head out of cover. I noticed that the gravity was still on in this section of the ship. A door opened slowly and the pelican carrying the bomb flew in, chain gun rattling. I finally poked my head out of cover, and saw Jorge walk up and subtly wave, before pulling out some crates, "Bombs aboard sir." Jorge informed. "Well done Noble, keep up the good work. Noble 6, Noble 5 will guard our package, get up to the corvette's cockpit, the refueling run will have to be triggered manually."

I nodded and looked to Jorge, who threw me a DMR, "You hear that, I'm going to be all lonely back here, hurry up would you?" I nodded and turned towards a stationary door. It slid open and I walked threw. "Noble 6, keep advancing down the corridor, disable the weapons systems, they're hammering the Savannah. I walked down a ramp and saw three elites manning computers, each of which connected to a massive gun. They fired in sync, causing simultaneous explosions along the side of the Savannah.

"Holland, this is Kristof, the Savannah is sustaining major structural damage, we have to-" The Savannah exploded, static filled the comms, Holland started to worry, "Savannah, this is Holland, how copy? Savannah, please respond…" he sighed, "Savannah is down, 6, lets wrap this up." I walked forwards and struck the main elite in the head, it slumped forwards and slid to the floor. The others, too busy gloating, suffered a similar fate.

I walked past the guns, through a spindly corridor and found my way into the main cockpit. Multiple elites manned the computers, I spotted the main console. I walked up to the computer, grabbed the elite in a strangle hold and keyed in the commands. The ship lurched upwards, the other elites looking at me in question. One by one they raised whatever they happened to be carrying; I could have sworn I saw one raise a light bulb. I smirked and smashed the computer beyond repair. The elites roared but did nothing; their elite was a human shield. I slowly walked towards the door and pushed the elite back towards the cockpit, the elite crying in protest, I chucked a coupled grenades for good measure before closing the door and hardwiring it. Pounds against the door were faint.

I set up two C4 explosives on the wall and connected them with an ultra thin string, if one end of the string was removed, they would simultaneously explode. I ran back down the corridor, past the guns and right into Jorge, who was standing in the middle of the room, guns blazing. I jet packed to a higher platform and called, "Providing over watch!" I pegged three grunts rapidly, causing cries of surprise and pain. The covenant troops fell rapidly.

"Glad you managed to show up," he said, shoving his chain gun in an elites face. The elite toppled over, screaming, I finished it with a shot to the head. After a few minutes, all the higher level troops were destroyed; only grunts remained. Suddenly, they all froze. We stopped firing and an eerie silence filled the air. Suddenly, the grunts glowed a bright purple. "What the!?" Jorge questioned, before shrugging and began mowing the grunts down. The bullets did little in effect.

Something caught my eye, a giant floating creature, long, thin tentacles twirling amusedly. Multiple hexagonal packs filled with… something, allowing it to float. "What is that?" I asked in wonder. Auntie Dot quickly replied, "A covenant engineer has been spotted in you facility, these life forms are non combatant but offer secondary shielding to all covenant personnel."

Holland's voice appeared over comms, "If it's helping the covenant in a hostile way, than it will be dealt with accordingly, 6, bring it down." I nodded and pegged one of the sacs on it's back, causing it to spiral down, on fire, an armored carapace resembling some sort of crustacean or mollusk, clattering on the floor. The grunts shielding quickly disappeared and were promptly mowed down by Jorge. One managed to stick the pelican with a plasma grenade, "NO!" Jorge yelled, before the pelican was quickly enveloped in an explosion, leaving a charred metal hull. Thankfully the slipspace bomb was unharmed, but our only ride out of here was destroyed.

I looked down solemnly as Jorge inspected the pelican, looking for any sign of working order. He turned and shook his head before turning back. Jorge attempted to arm the slipspace timer, but was met with a continuous beep signaling, 'Failure.' He smacked the thing and shook his head. Auntie Dot began the countdown, "Collision with covenant super carrier imminent, collision in approximately 76 seconds." Jorge slowly turned and sighed, "So it's going to be like that."

I cocked my head to one side in confusion. Jorge sighed again, "Well, I've got good news and bad news. As you obviously know, the pelican's totaled beyond repair meaning the only way off this slag heap is gravity." I sighed, "And the good news?" Jorge shook his head, "That was the good news. Timers damaged as well, I'm gonna have to fire it manually." I looked up, stunned, "That's a one way ticket." I informed grimly. Jorge nodded, "We all have to make it sooner or later, listen Shadow, Reach, has been good to me." He walked forwards, pulling of his dog tags, which showed personal information.

"And now, its time to return the favor, don't deny me this." He grasped me by the hand; lifting me effortlessly, "Tell them to make it count." he said with an air of finality before tossing me out the side of the corvette hanger, causing me to fall, down, through orbit and into atmosphere. As I started to fall, I locked my shields and watched as the corvette, dwarfed by the carrier, retracted into the underbelly and exploded, the Carrier splitting in half. The carrier ripped apart, half of the carrier teleporting away, towards oblivion. "Jorge." I muttered. Something came into view, out of the corner of my eye, another covenant carrier, than another, than another, almost 17 in total. While I could barely hear, panicked cries filled the comms, followed by a bright explosion. Anchor 9 disappeared, shattered pieces floating away.

"Their _everywhere_!" a voice yelled. I didn't see anything after that. Fire filled my vision and I double-checked my shields, for the first time, in a _long_ time, I was scared. Reach was doomed. "Jorge." I muttered one more time before I closed my eyes. A huge thud came minutes after.

Beckendorf's/Jorge's/Noble 5 POV

I watched Shadow fall and turned, 'I sure hope he makes it.' I looked at the bomb in anger and walked forwards. My hand brushed against the wires that would have to touch to cause the necessary explosion. A thought came to mind, 'I'll see you soon Silena.' I smiled and looked upwards, in waiting. I clashed the wires together and closed my eyes. When opened them, I was in a very different place.

I looked around the room, a dark shaded room. A balcony connected to the room on the right, a circle filled with a clear liquid sat proudly in the middle of the room. A figure stood in front of me, smiling. He wore a black cloak, his face pitch black; facial features a glowing white like the color of a super nova. He walked forwards and pulled me into a hug.

"Welcome home Charles Beckendorf." I smiled, "Hello Chaos." He smiled and gestured over to the reading spire. "Its good to see you Charles, you're the first of my commanders to make it home." I looked at him, shocked, "A Commander?! How… what… wha-why?" I stuttered. Chaos chuckled, "It's about time I start building my regime of commanding officers." I flicked his hand and two chairs flew over, surrounded in a purple veil. He gestured to sit down. I obliged.

"Before we start talking, please, remove the helmet." Chaos smirked, with a start; I realized I was in my Mjolner armor. I blushed as I set the helmet on the table. Chaos chuckled again, "Son, its time I told you my master plan." Oh this'll be good I smiled. 'Yes it will' Chaos's voice appeared in my head. I smiled.

"Earth, specifically in the time period you originated in, is in trouble." He gestured to the spire, which turned to a circular planet, shaped like a Halo. "Old creatures, they stir." A flash of orange, vaguely in the shape of a dog, appeared on screen, than darted off. "Tartarus, to avenge his late wife Gaea, plans to take revenge." He gestured to the spire again, a man, with red skin and curled horns like some kind of foreign animal, ordered troops around, while sitting promptly on his throne. "If he manages to capture the technology of old, without help, earth will fall, he would be able to resurrect all of the foes Olympus has recently faced, including Gaea."

I turned to Chaos, "What would you have me do?" I asked, steel determination filling my voice. Chaos smirked, "There is a reason I've formed a military. But one thing remains, I have taken against violence when I can, and without a leading military figure, the rangers are in disarray." The spire showed a large parade of soldiers, a lead figure carrying a flag entitled, "Rangers."

Without turning to face me, he spoke, "Charles, they need a leader, that is where you and the rest of the order of 6 will "Come in" is that how you say?" The spire showed Noble team, "You are not the only person representing Chaos in that war. There was a reason I sent you, to look after them, to help them grow." I nodded, "Sir, who are they?" I asked. Chaos shook his head, "Once they all finish their rite of passage, you will all meet, face to face. And the order of 6 shall be born." A furious pounding filled the room. "And speaking of reunification, I might as well leave you two in private." He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a purple flash.

"Chaos! I know you have him! Let me see him!" A familiar voice demanded. I turned and smiled, looked in a mirror and checked my hair. I looked terrible, ash and soot covering my face, eyes sunken with black bags underneath, hair a rat's nest. A whisper ran through the room and ten seconds later, the black bags disappeared, my face cleared, Hair straightened in dreadlock braids. My Mjolner armor disappeared, replaced by a skintight shirt and pant, with yellow highlights. I smiled and whispered a thank you to Chaos.

I ran to the door, threw it open and enveloped my wife in a hug, "Hello Silena." I whispered in her ear. Silena, realizing who I was, hugged tighter, "Oh Charles, I missed you!" I fingered one of her blonde curls and looked into her eyes as my lips crashed onto hers. We walked out the door laughing at our good fortune and down the winding staircases filling the House of Chaos.

"Oh, Charlie, it's so good to see you again!" Silena beamed at me, I smiled. "It's good to be back." Silena pulled me aside, "Hey Charlie, remember that date we planned, right before you had to leave?" Silena asked timidly, "Yes." I said, slowly. "Well, we never finished." She turned towards the city and held out her arm. I politely took it. We walked through the streets, both of us grinning ear to ear.

Voidiona, in my mind, looked much like a picture perfect Venice, a city full of activity. Perfect houses exactly like each other, lined the banks of canals sprawling through the city. I looked up and remembered, the stars were always visible here. We walked along and ran into a robotic vendor, a small invention made by Chief of mechanics, Leonardo Da Vinci, who happened to be a half brother of mine. We walked up to the vender and Silena took charge, "Void account, Silena Beckendorf, order 517." I watched as a picnic basket appeared in her hands. We thanked the vendor and walked off.

Along the way, we passed people, who stared at us, with a mixture of happiness, congratulations and awe. We ignored them and kept walking right until we reached the botanical gardens, and sat under a willow tree by a pond. We unpacked the picnic basket and sat, contently. Finally, I asked, "How are you?" Silena sighed, "I'm fine, but that was too long." I sighed, "It was an important trip, and I don't think it will be the last one." Silena frowned, "What do you mean."

"Chaos said that something would eventually come up, you know, from our time." Silena shook her head, "He better keep us in touch, I'm not being without you for another 34 years, even if it feels like a day to me." I smiled and pulled her into a hug. We slowly leaned backward and fell asleep in each others arms.

That night I dreamed of Camp Half-Blood. This was not the place I remembered. Chiron was slipping from leadership, barely keeping authority, Dionysus had returned to Olympus, leaving Chiron to deal with the disarray. Chiron watched on with a mixture of sadness and disgust as a boy vaguely looking like Percy, without the build or the skill, preached to the campers, an arm around Annabeth. Chiron sighed, "This will not end well." A mammoth dog walked up and lied at Chiron's feet, causing my old mentor to strain to see the rally. Chiron reluctantly scratched my old friends ears, Mrs. O'Leary's tail wagging in sad happiness.

A young lady walked up, decked out in the outfit of a hunter, "Thalia." Chiron politely acknowledged. Thalia nodded, "Every day, he gains more supporters to his cause." Thalia sat down, "Chiron, look at me." Thalia demanded. Chiron slowly turned to face the huntress, "We must leave, one more supporter and they'll being calling for your head, you know Wesbrook has it out against you." Chiron nodded, "Camp Jupiter is offering you sanctuary, please, Jason and Piper are already there, we must leave." Chiron nodded sadly and stood, "Where's Leo?" Thalia stood as well and strode down the stairs of the big house, "He's waiting in the car, your like an adopted father, he'll never leave you willingly."

Chiron nodded and guided and tired Mrs. O'Leary to a waiting 18-wheeler, packed with ancient relics. Mrs. O'Leary disappeared into the shadows, on the way to camp Jupiter. Leo nodded quietly and started the car. Chiron slowly looked back at the camp, for the last time. Annabeth's glassy eyes looked back, full of pleading, but nothing could be done.

A.N. Yuck, romance, well, I hope I did my readers proud, this was a long chapter, I'll update possibly around new years or so, I just got Black Ops 2, gotta play it! Thanks to Aesir21 for his suggestions, I take any advice my readers give to heart. And try to notice the hints I'm dropping about book 2, Whoever guesses what the dog was, you have my congratulations. Next chapter around New years. Happy holidays!

Ipods-And-Buds-1239


	9. Mass Exodus updated real chapter

**Into the Dark and Forward unto Dawn 9**

A.N. As I said in my previous message, I've been extraordinarily busy, so as soon as I got home from school, I started typing the newest chapter. Sorry for not updating sooner but I said why in the message and I really don't want to repeat the entire story again, thank you for your patience.

Reviews:

Aesir21: Yeah the dog was technically Mrs. O'Leary, but that wasn't what I was talking about, I made a slight fore runner reference with a orange glowing dog halfway through the talk between Chaos and Beckendorf. I try my best to please my readers, thanks for thanking me, thanks for wishing my family the best of luck and you are right, I have got to have Black Ops 2 technology sometime within the series, it's awesome!

WingGundamZero98: Yeah, I try to add new twists at the end of every chapter to keep the story fresh, thanks for supporting my story, it means a lot.

exiles soul: thanks, I base most of the plot of Halo Reach, but I try to set the scene for my next book, which is my plotline, I hope I explained the couple thing in the A.N. above, thanks for reviewing!

Sobekton: As I said in the PM, thanks for taking such an interest, hope this chapter does the job, thanks for sticking with me! I took your advice on you other review, thanks for being such a great supporter of the story.

Chapter 9: Mass Exodus

Percy/Shadow/Noble 6 POV

I awoke in a dream, so to speak. I was floating, surrounded by darkness, wisps of mist and sulfur floating around me. This world was foreign, but familiar. I suddenly floated forwards, like I was possessed. I stopped in front of a pit; one that looked like it could go on forever. I finally realized it; I was in the underworld, right outside Tartarus. Without hesitation, whatever possessed me flung me into the pit.

I had been inside Tartarus once, during my experiences with Gaea and the doors of death and what not, but I was not prepared for this. Instead of complete, enveloping darkness, massive torches in a line were strung together, obsidian buildings, all of which, charred in ash. I passed by some pretty hideous creature, all of which looked quite a lot like those creatures from Lord of the Rings movie I saw with Paul. I don't know what they were, but they were ugly.

I passed through a "City" and into a castle that would've put Olympus to shame. Massive parapets sat in a pentagonal formation, with multiple artillery batteries facing every direction. Full metal gates swung aside as I neared them. Sadly, I always get stuck with the possession of the ghouls that like creepy places, go figure. Of course, I floated into the castle.

Massive voices boomed and I entered what could be assumed as a great hall. On a throne of skulls and shadows sat a beast of monstrous proportions. He stood 40 feet high, with thick curled horns vastly resembling some sort of African antelope. His skin was blood red, riddled with tattoos. Yellow, mold-encrusted teeth filled his mouth, with canines that would've put a vampire's to shame. Massive clawed hands and feet, much like a dragons, gripped to the throne.

Beside him sat a small pale creature resembling the beast outside, scribbling notes on a scroll. "Pit of despair, how much longer until I am able to address the troops?" The beast boomed. Pit of despair sighed, "In exactly one month, Tartarus." Pit of despair mumbled. Tartarus smiled, "Excellent, we'll put those mangy Olympian dogs in their place, have you any word of where Chaos allegiance shall lie?" Tartarus asked as a small, for a lack of a better word, orc shuffled forwards carrying a plate of chicken, behind it came more carrying identical plates. "No sir, many reports believe that Chaos retreated from the world and faded." Tartarus laughed, "I believe fortune lies in our favor, he picked up a plate of chicken and ate it, metal and all.

I awoke with a shudder. I tried to sit up, but immediately collapsed. A metallic taste filled my mouth. Blood. Slowly I regained my bearings. It was dark, stars filled the sky. Shooting stars. Some of which seemed purple. I strained to look closer, those were not shooting stars, they were debris. I tried to sit up, but my back felt as if it were ripping apart. With a cry, I collapsed. Slowly, things came back to me.

The Sabre launch, Operation Uppercut, the carrier, the corvette, Jorge. With a shaking arm, I fished around in my shoulder pocket and pulled out Jorge's dog tags. A single tear slid down my face.

Slowly I realized something, Reach was doomed. I remembered seeing almost 17-covenant super carriers come out of slipspace. Even the entire human fleet would do little against those odds. I shook my head with resignation. So many people, soldiers and civilians, were still on Reach. Sure the U.N.S.C would do everything to evacuate as many people as possible, but that's not enough. 550 millions civilians lived on Reach; we wouldn't even come close to evacuating a quarter of that.

A small slur came over my comms, as if someone was calling for help, "***al***U.N.S.C***Evac***New Alexandria***-" Something blinked beside me. I strained to look at it. A medical pack, Spartan field issue. I smiled. I touched the packs activation and watched as the med pack latched onto my arm. Immediately relief coursed through my body. Something snapped in my leg, I clenched my teeth. The med pack popped off, smoking. I still felt terrible but it was brilliant compared to how I felt ten minutes ago. Slowly I sat up.

The super carrier was strewn across the Szurdock mountain range, the cockpit sitting on the highest peak. I stood, watching as debris hurtled from the sky. Balls of fire smashed into the ground; it looked like Hades had decided to takeover the world's surface. With a shudder, I turned and saw a re-entry supply pack. I stepped towards it and stumbled, apparently my right leg was not healed yet. I popped open the capsule and found a Magnum, with a couple spare rounds, all in all, 34 shots.

I turned to see a small dirt road, with a big sign stating turn-offs and residential areas, in big letters, "New Alexandria." I slowly connected the dots, the scrambled radio transmission, evacuation, New Alexandria, that's got to be the center of evacuation. I followed the directions the sign gave, to New Alexandria.

I slowly entered the city borders, walking past a plasma burned sign comically welcoming all extraterrestrial visitors… how ironic. I hiked up a hill and saw my first glimpse of the city. A masterpiece that would've put anything Annabeth designed to shame, the city was being hammered into the ground. Four corvettes, probably ferried in on the bellies of one of the super carriers, floated above the city, their plasma cannons firing almost nonstop. I watched as the lead corvette leveled a skyscraper, before destroying a civilian transport. I shook my head before pulling out Jorge's dog tag. It swung almost in tune to the breeze. "So this is what you've sacrificed yourself for Jorge, a false chance at salvation." I slipped it back in the pocket and slid down the hill, causing my still injured leg to groan in protest.

I reached a small path leading into the city, pistol raised and stalked silently forwards. I didn't see any covenant, or humans, living humans, for that matter. Looks like this block has been abandoned. I wove my way through the debris, everything from wrecked cars stocked with supplies to what I could've sworn was a giant teddy bear, like the kind that you can use a as stunt double. It reminded me of the time I took Annabeth to the carnival. I wish my life was that simple again. The ground shook underneath me, I briefly wondered if the covenant had begun their local glassing but then I realized that I was off the ground. I examined my footing and realized I was on what was originally a sky bridge, connecting between two buildings. Deducing that the bridge could collapse any second under a normal humans weight, not counting the fact that I was essentially a 200-pound human in a 1000-super suit, well, it was probably safer on the ground. I hopped down and grit my teeth over the stifling sting in my leg. The bio foam from the first aid kit helped ease the pain and allow me to make the 50-mile nerve wracking hike through what was essentially enemy territory, but it was not a permanent pain killer.

I walked down and caught sight of something flashing. I pulled out a small one-eyed soflam binocular piece from my pocket, the one thing that miraculously survived the crash and saw that it was a marine. He was signaling me with a mirror. I noticed that there was a difference in flash timing. I recognized it from Chaos's teachings, Morse code. I slowly translated "B-E-H-I-N-D-Y-O-U." I spun around and came face to face with a surprised skirmisher. I slugged it in the face, causing it to go flying. Fortunately, it seemed that it was just as lost as I was, the downside that it was not alone. Apparently, a group of skirmishers couldn't find their way back to front lines and decided to go pillaging, I already counted 5 gold teeth (They decided to wear those), multiple pistols and countless gold and silver watches.

The leader cried with outrage, obviously enjoying the one true thing skirmishers, and their distant cousins the jackals liked to do, steal. It resignedly raised its plasma pistol and sluggishly pulled the trigger. I lunged behind a totaled four by four, causing the skirmisher to screech in frustration. Obviously it wanted to keep being a dirty robbing monster and to get back to its "important" business as soon as possible.

I leaned over and popped the order shouting lead creature in the head and hid back behind the truck, expecting plasma to come whistling over my head at any second. The sound of burning Spartan never came. I hesitantly peeked over the shattered windshield. Apparently, the skirmishers were so loaded with their "Spoils of war"; they had dropped their weapons in favor of gold and silver. They couldn't fight so they did what skirmishers do best, chicken out. They were so loaded down with loot, they couldn't even walk properly, much less exceed 100 miles per hour. I almost felt pity as I picked of the aliens one by one. I turned and waved at the marine and gave the man a thumbs up. He flashed his mirror again, "R-A-S-C-H-B-U-I-L-D-I-N-G-E-V-A-C". Evacuation coordinates.

I checked my navigation indicator for the fastest route to the evacuation center. A small dot appeared over a small service door in the side of a small building that could easily be mistaken as a metro entrance. The key to New Alexandria's success lied not with the politicians or the vast endorsement the city had received, but the fact that the city functioned much like an underground trade route. Service tunnels crisscrossed under the city with automated trains and 24-7 workers ferrying everything from food to bank accounts to building material everywhere it was needed.

Apparently the all knowing navigation system said that the fastest and safest way through the city was through this tunnel, which no doubt had crashed trains full of goods, valuable metal in particular which of course attracted skirmishers, jackals and other opportunists down below. Good job O.N.I systems! Nonetheless, I proceeded downwards. The tunnel held an eerie quality, with whispering flowing through the corridors, real whispering or the wind, I could not tell. I limped down the stairs, pistol raised sloppily. Due to the skirmishers and the covenant troops I encountered on the way here, I was on my last magazine. I slumped through the corridors, praying that I did not encounter anything else. Surprisingly, nothing happened, I did here scrambled chatter on the radio, deducing that the covenant had suicide squads of grunts patrolling in the service tunnels, and I could have sworn I heard a plasma grenade flare up, but I never came face to face with any covenant forces.

I slowly followed the designated points, wearily treading close to a mile. The navigation showed an elevated position, I followed it up a set of stairs and cracked open a door, revealing the harsh glare of daylight. Scrambled radio chatter came on again, "***Shot fire-***trans***take of***" A massive explosion directed towards the corvette simply bounced of the ships shields, I watched as a transport used the distraction to dart away. The covenant would not be fooled by the same trick twice. "***How***Stop***Corvet***?!"

I heard gunfire nearby, I limped towards the source. "Help me!" and "Their right behind us!" were shouted constantly. A massive firefight unfolded before my eyes. Outside a small building titled "Rasch Inc." A small security detail of about a couple Marines and military police hid behind flimsy barricades. A group of aliens I had not seen in a long time lumbered towards the barricade. Brutes were a type of alien the covenant had only just recently inducted into its alliance, with the brutes savage nature not yet mellowed by foreign politics. These hulking monsters stood over seven feet tall, with massive muscular bodies covered in thin grey hair. Most brutes could be referred to as the covenant equivalent of a Viking berserker, with very few ever wearing armor, despite this fact that many brutes went into battle with only a loincloth and a helmet, they could withstand quite a bit of punishment, including close to a full clip of assault rifle ammunition. These things had earned the name "Brutes" for a reason; they were the vilest, most disgusting creatures I've seen in my 18 years as a Spartan. They killed everything in their path, men, women, children, even other covenant. And they intended to live up to their name right here.

A young lady, a marine, finished pushing the last of the civilian stragglers inside, causing the brute chieftain, a large bull male covered in flimsy yellow armor, to yell a series of unidentifiable cries into the sky. I shook my head, at this rate; the marines are going to be overwhelmed in a few minutes. I caught something out of the corner of my eye. A private security turret, shield covered in rust, stand already decaying from lack of maintenance, stood gesturing towards the battlefield, almost defiantly. I ripped it off its hinges and open fired on the brutes.

To say the inhabitants of the firefight were surprised was quite an understatement. The girl marine yelled "A Spartan?! Where did he come from?!" The brutes howled as I mowed them down. I stared the leader in the eye as I lined him in my sights. One by one, the dirty creatures succumbed to the immense fire from the turret. No brute could last long under the continuous barrage of .50 caliber bullets that were used to punch through the armor of a tank. After the brutes were eliminated, I discarded the smoking turret and watched as the marines cheered at their success. I watched as a single brute fled from the scene, he turned and raised his spiker. Apparently, the savagery of the brute designed bayonet pistol was not just for show. The high velocity needles hit me in my already broken leg before the brute turned and began running like a coward. The marine leader turned and hit it in the back of the head with a well-placed shot from her magnum.

I grit my teeth as my leg gave way, causing me to fall down a steep slope of rubble and garbage. I slowly blacked out as the leader ran towards me and hauled me inside.

I slowly came to about 30 minutes later. The leader had taken to fixing my leg; I saw 3 bloody spikes lying on the table that was being used as hospital bed. I examined the girl closely; she had honey blonde hair, with stunning blue eyes. I could already tell the men around her were smitten, but the ring on her finger shot their dreams right out of the sky. I could've sworn she was Silena Beauregard. She smiled with recognition as she caught me staring at her. She leaned down next to my ear. "Your father sends his regards, there is still hope, good luck." She smiled one last time before disappearing in a pink flash, with a huge poof. No one noticed, they didn't say a word. I sat up; a trooper came to my bedside saluting, "Where… Where'd she go?" The trooper frowned, "I beg your pardon sir but… Who?" He questioned meekly. I gave him a wave, "Doesn't matter."

He handed me a shotgun and pulled me up. I felt like a million dollars, It was on. "Give me a sit rep sir." He nodded, "Sir, you rescued us from a brute battalion attempting to receive access to the civilian elevator we are using to ferry civilians up to the eighth floor, the elevator can't go any higher right now, where a landing pad has multiple civilian transports. However, the transports have been overwhelmed by covenant aerial troopers, we've secured the seventh floor but there's nothing we can do. We're sandwiched in between the covenant attempting to receive access via the ground floor and the covenant on the upper floors."

"Baseplate was stationed at Traxus tower but the covenant leveled the place about two hours ago." I remembered the building I had seen on my way into the city. The trooper continued, "Baseplates final order to our supervisors, evacuation group seven, was "Secure upper levels, pelican transports will evacuate civilians and troopers from city." We've been holding out and we know the pelicans are still on standby but banshees are hitting them hard, we've got to hurry or there won't be any transports left and we'll be sitting ducks for those corvettes." I nodded, "Give me a full list of personnel in the building."

"We have 168 civilians, 63 marines, 34 military police and 6 ODST troopers, their calling themselves, "the bull frogs", huh, is that weird or what?" The trooper joked. "I'll head to the front line, bolster the defenses down here and remain 2 floors under the front lines, this will help speed up evacuation." The trooper nodded, "The central elevator is waiting for you." I shook his hand and turned to see a young lady, no older then 10, clutching her younger brother who was about 7, in fear. I walked over, "Where are your parents?" I asked. The girl shook her head, "Th-th-there here, helping treat the wounded, mister, are-are you a robot?" She stammered. I shook my head and revealed my face, "No, I'm just like you. We'll all get out of here soon, don't you worry, you'll be okay." She smiled and hugged her brother who was grinning. I smiled at the marine before donning my helmet. As I walked towards the elevator, I heard the little boy saying, "We just meet a Spartan, we just meet a Spartan."

I grinned, I love kids. "Wait!" The marine yelled, he handed me a bag with a red cross on the side, "They need it." I nodded. And with that, the doors shut. I watched as the elevator dinged past every floor, the holographic numbers changing every five seconds. The elevators doors opened with a strangled "Ding". I pushed past the onslaught of civilians, who screamed and tugged at me in relief. A marine ran over to greet me as I shuffled towards the main line, giving a strangled gasp as he realized I was a Spartan, "Sir, reporting for duty sir!" He saluted. I smiled as I saw a medical patch on his shoulder, "Put these to good use my friend, I'm here to break the covenant line." I shoved the bag into his arms, pushed past grinning like a lunatic as the man rushed around, yelling, "Spartan! Were going to be okay!" Slowly I steeled myself with determination, loading the shotgun to full capacity.

I watched as a group of marines huddled behind a barrier. They gestured frantically at me to take cover, I didn't care, these things were frustrating me to no end, I've been shot, impaled and dropped from orbit, no way was I going to let a bunch of slobbering mutts simply wipe out the human race just because they want to have a good time. I strode forwards like a man with a suicide wish, staring at the covenant with fury in my eyes. I started pumping rounds out with my shotgun, grunts went flying, jackals went sprawling. I ran out of ammo just as a brute raised his spiker ready to impale me. It never happened. A fury of assault rifle fire splattered the brute, causing him to cartwheel over a bench. I didn't even turn to face the awestruck marines as I stomped towards the flight of stairs leading up to the next floor. Two more floors and I would reach the landing pad.

Brutes came tumbling down the staircase, ready to bolster the previous force. I simply mowed them down as they looked at me in surprise. The marines hugged the walls, following me like a train. Assault rifles raised upwards, they scanned the stairwell closely. Eventually we reached the 8th floor, a group of ODST's greeted me. "Hey man, you the Spartan the radios buzzing about? Well, lets see if your true U.N.S.C material. We're just about to make a jump, you man enough for it?" I smiled, the ODST's were the cutting edge in the U.N.S.C for years, but soon after the Spartan program was introduced, well, their role as the deadliest soldier was taken away, we've had a friendly rivalry ever since.

The marksmen of the group informed, "Covies have the only working hallway on this floor that leads to the landing pad locked tighter than a jackals wallet, we're here to flank em and secure the hallway for the civies." An ODST tossed me a jet pack, "Come on mate, try it on." I slipped on the jet pack and watched as they did the same. The leader turned and grinned, "Welcome to the bullfrogs." With that he ignited the jetpack and rose 20 feet into the air before landing lightly on a nearby platform. The other ODST's followed quickly. I hit the thruster and launched forwards.

I've got to say, driving down the highway in a Maserati is nothing compared to jet packing. You're literally, in all senses of the word, flying. I darted through the wreckage, blasting upwards-over 50-foot chasms and huge abysmal drops. The fact that the covenant had spotted us and began firing, albeit sloppily, made the situation even cooler. I blasted one final time before slamming down on top of an unfortunate cry; a loud crack indicated I had broken something important.

I gunned down an approaching jackal shield wall as the ODSTs landed, I heard the leader yell, "Spread out, don't get pinned down!" We ran forwards guns blazing as the covenant continued their barrage. Soon the river of plasma fire slowly turned into a trickle as the final forces retreated up the final stairwell to the landing pad. I thought it was over until a huge roar followed by a smash landed in front of me and the ODST's. When the dust cleared, a creature stood in front of us. A massive brute, almost 16 feet tall, sat hunched in front of us. The brute was decked out in formidable blood red armor, with a massive gravity hammer firmly in it's grip. It stood to its full height and roared. A brute Tribesman.

"Scatter!" I yelled and the ODSTs lifted off, darting away from the beast. It roared and attempted to knock the men out of the sky as if they were nothing but insignificant bugs. I growled as it turned and hit the wreckage of a crashed banshee off the building in anger, the air warping around the hammer as it swung before turning to face me. I shot point blank at the tribesmen, causing a faint flicker of the shields as the brute roared in anger. It stabbed downwards with the butt of its hammer, cutting the shotgun clear in two.

Just my luck, I take on one of the most formidable enemies in the covenant on with only my bare fists. I spun around behind the brute as it swung its hammer, missing me by inches. As it turned sluggishly around to face me, my leg curled backwards and shot forwards like a piston into its… well, if it was a human, its groin. The beast collapsed and stared at me before struggling to its feet, murder in its eyes. I spun around again but used the momentum to swing a massive hook arm into the creatures face. Now my hand hurts. The creature roared in agony as red blood trickled down its face. The ODSTs decided to make an appearance after they had gotten over their stunned silence, "Take him down!" the leader yelled. As one the ODSTs charged forwards, knives drawn. The brute tried to stand but was knocked down by the sheer force of six ODSTs barreling into its back. They stabbed at all the weak points they could find, causing the brute to fall in a heap.

"That. Was. BOSS!" An ODST yelled. I nodded and turned to make my way upstairs, wringing my wrist. The final ascent to the landing pad was completely uneventful, with a couple panicked grunts screaming out in fright. I shook my head as I walked by, leaving the ODSTs to finish the covenant stragglers, as they had working firearms.

I reached the landing pad and watched as an ODST walked forwards, carrying an old radio set. I looked in question, he quickly explained, "Covenant are jamming the frequencies." That explained some things. Slowly two falcons came into view escorting three pelicans in triangle formation. They landed on the spacious landing pad, carefully avoiding the wreckage of previous transports. I watched as a falcon landed beside me, the pilot turning off the propeller blades and opening the cockpit, "I'm here for the Spartan, Call sign Noble 6, Holland's orders." I nodded and hopped on the gunners seat. The pilot had to reset all of the systems, so I had a minute to go till take off. I watched as the marines made some barricades, massive amounts of civilians filed patiently into the pelicans. The medical marine that took care of me grinned in my direction before helping the two kids and their weary parents into the final pelican. The troopers were next; I heard gunfire covering their escape. I watched as the ODSTs got on last waving like idiots. The pelicans took off north, while my falcon took off in the opposite direction, the pilot started to give me a sit rep, "Your team successfully evacuated from some facility, it was classified, before getting direct orders from Holland to help defend the city, some scary guy in blue armor has been on everyone's case to find you and the other guy."

I shook my head, "He's dead." The pilot sighed, "Okay… I'm sorry… The technician took the team to the Olympian tower at the center of the city, it's near the national glassing bunker and the covenant can't find it. They want you there right now but the big man Holland wants you to activate the anti air defenses at the bay site so we can disable the corvettes and get the civilian transports out of the city, there's a secure site at the ship breaking yard in Aszod. That's where they've got some ships equipped with commercial slipspace drives to help get people off world."

I nodded, "Where's the anti-air?" The Pilot gestured up ahead, "Full moon bay, the covenant disabled the guns and pinned down local military police, they've called for back up, that's your job." I nodded. The pilot tapped his earpiece, as if he were listening to something, "We've got an air support request en route to the AA guns, think you're up for it?" I nodded, he pulled up beside the local boardwalk, I saw local trooper being hammered by brutes, which were peaking over a jackal phalanx shield wall. The pilot pulled up beside the covenant, "Light 'em up!" I flicked off the safety on the machine gun, mowing down the jackals, the brutes raised the pistols at me and a chieftain raised a fuel rod gun. They never got the chance to fire. The troopers made use of the distraction, mowing down the brutes with continuous machinegun fire.

The falcon pulled away and slowly arrived at the main bay entrance. Something caught my eye, scattered radio chatter came on over my comms, "***Have to leav***Overwhelme***!" The pilot was shaking his head, obviously knowing something I didn't. "No, the corvette will shoot it down NO!" I watched in horror as the pilot of a civilian transport took off and tried to fly away, the corvette immediately took notice and fired on it, plasma lazily curving towards the transport carrying civilians and wounded troopers. The ship was nearly ripped in two before sinking slowly into the bay. I could already tell that there were no survivors. I shook my head as the pilot held back tears, "No… No." The falcon finally pulled up at the landing zone, a young man stood wearily in front of a bunch of marines, with sun kissed skin and a six o'clock shadow. Sergeant Duvall grinned as I landed. "Glad to see you Spartan, I've got the covenant encroaching on our position from all directions, we've got the beasts in a wraith near the main facility entrance where the Military police are pinned down. We've got a warthog as a resource but nothing else; there are two cannon missile batteries that require activation. Take care of the wraith and the far missile battery; take John and Parker with you." Two men with rocket launchers stepped forwards, nodding respectfully.

"The activation code for the battery is 5064, we'll secure the nearest battery and provide sniper support, good luck son." I nodded and hopped in the drivers seat, with John on the machine gun turret and Parker in the passengers seat. I floored it towards the main entrance. A jackal shield wall encroached steadily towards the disorganized Military police, with the Wraith providing backup, blue plasma shells bombarded the entrance constantly. I slammed into the Jackal shield wall, John firing like a mad man, while parker lined the offense wraith in his sights. A rocket coursed through the air towards the blue bulbous hood, smashing into the vehicle, which disappeared in a fiery blaze.

The military police instantly re-manned the turret at the front entrance, cheering at their good fortune. I couldn't blame them, they received quite a pounding. Parker shouted, "They secured the first anti-air!" I watched, as the missile battery turned towards the corvette, in ready position, all that was needed was the activation of the second turret. I saw a group of brutes making their way towards us, "Parker, John, help protect the entrance." The two dizzy soldiers grudgingly obliged.

I drove full throttle towards the second AA, of course some covenant tried to stop me, but the fact that they were being picked off by Duvall's team with sniper rifles stopped me from worrying too much. Eventually I reached the final AA, with Brutes falling all around me. I quickly keyed in the activation code, not noticing the brute walking behind me, panting heavily. Spiker raised, it began to swing downwards. It never touched, me, the snipers were doing their job well. The missile turned towards the corvette, a laser appearing a confirming the target before firing a salvo of missiles, I saw almost 12 transport ships rise up from nearby and rocket away.

I saw Duvall sprinting up to me before smacking me on the back, "Well done my boy! You saved a lot of lives today." I nodded wearily. I stumbled towards the shore of the bay, utterly exhausted. I heard Duvall ordering his troops but I was more focused on the somewhat decent transmissions contacting me. "***All Noble personnel, Jorge, Shadow please respond?!" a panicked voice came on over the comms, I think it was Kat. "Kat, this is Shadow, I'm at full moon bay, can I get a pick up?" Kat sighed in relief over the radio "Shadow, Emile's picking you up in a falcon, mark your position with flares." I did as I was told. Soon a flacon came into shape over the horizon, coming to a stop in front of me.

I walked forwards, Emile sitting on the skids, shaking his head and laughing. He looked around, "Hey Shadow… Where's Jorge." I shook my head and reached into my pocket. I pulled out the dog tags and clasped Emile's hand, pulling myself into the falcon. I let go of the dog tags and he inspected them. He shook his head. The falcon ride was silent the rest of the way to the Olympia tower.

A.N. There we go, that was to long without updating, I'm going to say it again, so sorry, that will never happen again. Thank you for you patience. I think this was one of my most solemn chapters; this marks the turning point in the battle for Reach. But as "Silena" said, there is still hope. I'll update in about two weeks tops.

Ipods-And-Buds-1239


	10. Flight deck

**Into the Dark and Forward unto dawn Ch 10**

A.N. Not sure if anyone noticed, but I replaced the A.N. in the previous chapter with the actual chapter, so the extract is now a real chapter, the chapter that was set to post on Sunday is now up and ready to read, simply skip backwards to get that chapter. This chapter is a new chapter that I decided to update simply because I had time to type it. So anyway, Chapter 9 is fully updated and is ready to read, thanks for checking that out.

I've decided to post an extra chapter to make up for the time I was gone, I'm sorry for that, it wont happen again, I swear.

Reviews, Sadly, I don't think anyone noticed that I had replaced the A.N. with a real chapter, so no reviews!

Percy/Noble 6/ Shadows POV

I sat in the cargo bay of a pelican. The midnight air was solemn and so was the attitude of Noble team when they heard the news of Jorge. I think Carter and Kat took it the worst, Carter for not being there to take his place. Kat probably because she suggested the operation, step by step. I knew the rest of Noble were beating themselves up, but Kat had secluded herself to her bunk room, endlessly scanning the covenant radio waves and attempting to hack into the jammers to allow the U.N.S.C some decent form of communication. I guess that was her way of dealing with the grief.

Apparently Kat had decided that the jammers were too much of a problem and that they had to be destroyed. That was where I would come in. I was currently being ferried to a nearby landing pad, where a falcon currently waited. I was a certified pilot. I found it quite funny that I was flying a helicopter through Zeus's domain. What's worse was that I was operating outside of Zeus's control, on another planet, so essentially, I was flipping him off. I always found it ironic that I was actually a pretty good pilot; I had served a couple years in the air force division of the Marine Corps, flying close air support. While I preferred to be flying a Sparrow-hawk VTOL battle jet, a falcon wasn't too much of a transition.

Kat was a bit hesitant at asking me to take part in the operation, she though that I was afraid of her "Curse". Whenever Kat runs some sort of daring operation, a member of noble team usually dies. While the previous noble 6, Thomas, died on the battle for Fuchsia, an outer colony, Jorge's death basically confirmed it to every non-Noble member in the armed forces. I personally thought it was a load of bull, so did the rest of Noble team, even Emile, with all his weird superstitions, was the strongest supporter of Kat's innocence. Carter came a close second.

The pelican was flying at skyline level, over the tops off the buildings. We were so high up, clouds basically hung to the edges of the building, grouping around the tips like white ballet skirts. I couldn't see the ground. The covenant were bombarding their way into the ninth day of the siege, I knew that their troops were close to the breaking point. All civilians that remained in the city were told to enter the anti-glassing shelters underneath the main buildings. I rarely saw any other U.N.S.C soldiers, so I could tell the covenant were beginning their final preparations for the local "Cleansing". Glassing was essentially one planet wide decimation from orbit via massive plasma beams. It was a rite of passage for covenant naval commanders, a local glassing often occurred to help speed up the removal off any human survivors. It often happened on the tenth day of a siege if the city wasn't washed clean of human trace, no wonder the city had become a ghost town.

I watched as the pelican cruised by the remains of the city hall skyscraper, which could be described as a burning stub. The remains of falling buildings were adding up, soon all the streets would be choked with rubble to the point where nothing, covenant or human, would be able to navigate their way around. The battle had gradually shifted upwards, with covenant occupied buildings trading off against scattered, un-organized marines, this was quickly turning into a game of cat and mouse. As I neared the landing pad, I picked up a DMR strapped to the wall, stood up and slid the DMR onto my back. The pelican hovered above the landing pad before slowly descending and coming to a stop on the main hanger deck. Carter walked to greet me.

"It's good to have you back." Carter informed grimly. I nodded wearily. "I'm sorry I came alone." I said. Carter pulled me into a light man hug, "Make him proud." I nodded. Carter walked me over to a stationary falcon, which was full on fuel. The Cockpit was open, almost invitingly. I climbed in and started checking the individual systems, thrusters at full capacity, rotor blades at full speed, lift off initiating in ten seconds. I slowly lifted off the ground, not as smoothly as I could have if I was in a Sparrow hawk, but it wasn't too shabby. I hovered and looked down to see Carter wave farewell before boarding the pelican I came in on, likely to return to the Olympia tower. I gunned the engines and the Falcon smoothly floated forwards.

Kats voice came over the radio, the U.N.S.C had to use lower grade radio batteries to keep up comms, the ones that the covenant didn't have a stranglehold on. "Noble 6, are you there?" Kat asked sadly. I responded, "Noble 2, this is Noble 6, give me a brief overview of mission parameters please." I requested. Kat responded, "Covenant techs have deployed jammers on top of the high-rises, we can't contact Holland or any other U.N.S.C troopers outside of the city, I'll give you coordinates to each of the jammers, remember, the jammers are often located inside the high-rises, you need to land the Falcon and proceed on foot to deal with the jammers."

I nodded, "Where are the jammers?" Kat responded immediately, "The covenant have placed them at each of the tallest buildings in the city, I don't have exact coordinates so I've deduced them by theory, your first stop is the Hospital, we had troopers inside who were evacuating patients, they were successful but we've lost contact." I sighed, "All right, I'm on my way." Something shot past me, blue plasma. "I'll get back to you Kat." I ascended, just in time. A banshee shot past where I was five seconds ago, obviously trying to ram me. I moved the joystick as I flipped on the targeting reticule. In addition to the two side mounted, crew manned machine guns, the falcon has a nose mounted seven round burst machinegun, shooting massive 0.75 caliber bullets. These make short work of banshees; even a phantom wouldn't last long under that kind of firepower. I lined up the offending banshee in my sights and pulled the trigger. The falcon shook and the bullets flew towards the banshee, ripping it apart. The remains cascaded downwards, into the abyss.

More banshees started closing in all around me, slowly trailing me, as if I was going to let them shoot me down. I smashed the throttle upwards, ascending so fast that I could barely hold my lunch. The banshees, this time I could see them, there were about three of them, shot past me. I thumbed the fire button; fire came out of the nose of the bird, smashing the banshees. One by one, the banshees spun out of control and slowly spun down into the bowels of the city.

I turned the bird around and saw an entire fleet of banshees slowly coming towards me. I got ready to thumb the trigger but they suddenly, as if they had rehearsed it, turned upwards and ascended, higher and higher, until I couldn't see them anymore. A covenant corvette came into view, around the outskirts of the city. A huge red circle slowly expanded under the main cockpit, turning pink, then white. It came down in a single beam, heat and shockwaves spiraled outwards. I watched as the corvette finished glassing the outskirts before moving around, slowly circling the outskirts. I was running out of time.

Something popped up on my HUD, a navigation marker showing the hospital. A caduceus glowed in bright red on the side of the building. I started towards it but something came on over the radio. "Someone, anyone, please respond, this in Charlie Romeo 9, we took out a short range jammer and have been awaiting evacuation, me and my team of three other marines are pinned down on the roof by jackal snipers, requesting gun run on those devils." I responded, "Charlie Romeo 9, this is Noble 6, inbound on gun run, lase the target over." A moment later, something caught my eye; a small red laser popped up and pointed towards a nearby building. 3 small energy beams, focus rifles, were bombarding a nearby rooftop. I hovered over the battered marines and leveled the jackal squadron, building support beams shattered causing part of the building section to collapse.

I hovered over the marines before landing on an open space. The marines scrambled to the helicopter. They piled in; the leader tapped my shoulder, "Thanks sir!" I nodded, "Boys, my missions to take out the main covenant jammers, I need some side gunners, feel up for it?" They nodded and I took off. Slowly the hospital came into view, green plasma fire slashed past us. A marine on the right side yelled, "Fuel rod turrets!" I swerved sideways, dodging inbound fire. Skirmishers ran out of the building and began taking potshots at my helicopter. I was not amused.

I ascended upwards, before turning so that both gunners could have a clear shot at the platform, "Open fire!" I yelled before squeezing the joystick. Three concentrated bursts of fire impacted the brightly lit landing pad, reducing the fuel rod turrets to charred, ash covered wrecks. I hovered closer, before turning so my left door gunner could finish off the skirmishers. A loud stream of fire collided with the bulk of the skirmisher forces, nothing remained. I slowly landed on the helicopter pad before hopping out. The marines looked at me in question. I turned to them, "The jammers inside, I need you guys to watch for covenant while I destroy it. The leader nodded before directing his two friends into a defensive position.

I moved inside, DMR ready, listening to any hint of covenant forces. I heard gunfire, the plasma burning, the hiss of grenades. I needed to find the jammer. I came to a corner, walking slowly. I immediately retreated, seeing a covenant strike force moving towards me. A jackal team, obviously oblivious to my presence, were bragging and grinning like fools. The lead jackal gestured upwards, waving its clawed, mottled hands as if saying, "It will take care of it". Something bumped into the ceiling; I strained to get a closer look. Carefully concealed among the rafters of the building was an engineer, bumping into everything in sight. I remembered what the scientists said about covenant engineers, "They receive their names from their buoyancy, apparently, the engineers make their young like machines, naming them based on how well the gas sacks are filled, "Lighter then most," "Perfection" and "Density" were all popular.

A shrill cry came up in front of me; a keen eyed jackal had spotted me. The jackals flicked on their shields and the engineer started waving its tentacles like magic wands, purple light came down, covering the jackals, giving secondary shielding. I had to deal with the engineer if I was to have a chance at dealing with the jackals. I blindly shot, managing a lucky shot on the engineer. While this wouldn't have done much to a normal engineer, this one was so sensitive, a slight tap would send it spinning out of control. This wasn't a small tap, this was an armor-piercing bullet. I watched as the engineer slowly spun towards a shattered window. The engineer quickly ascended, twirling its tentacles in terror. The jackals watched it go in shock, carelessly lowering their shields. The purple shielding quickly flickered out, I took the opportunity to throw a grenade. It bumped against a jackal's foot. It looked down like, "I was watching something, why did you have to ruin the moment?" The jackals, realizing what it was, started to dive out of the way, but they were too late. A thick cloud of shrapnel had filled the air, tearing everything apart.

I walked forwards, scanning ahead for anything else. I watched as a door slid open on my right, an injured brute stumbled through, cursing. It turned to me and regarded me with a face like, "You really had to be here right now?" We stared at each other for a few seconds before I made the first move. I lunged forwards, my massive gloved hand smothering the brutes tiny face. I slammed the head into the wall, the brute's cumbersome body slowly following. I was hoping to knock the brute into unconsciousness, but sadly, brutes have rather thick skulls. It tried to move forwards but I repeated the process. The brute slowly slid to the floor, red blood slowly trickling out of its nose.

I dusted of my hands and kept walking forwards, looking around to see any other covenant troops. It seemed this place was teeming with them. Satisfied that I was not surrounded, at the moment of course, I pulled the door the brute came through open, causing it to be thrown of its hinges. I had walked into a firefight; two troopers were exchanging shots with about seven brutes, which were slowly advancing. I could already tell that one of the troops, a girl, was frequently checking behind her back, as if looking at something… or someone. She yelled, "Get back you dirty perverts!"

The brute closest to me turned and looked in my direction with a face full of loathing. It frowned and pulled out its spiker. I rushed forwards and kicked it out a window, shattering the glass pane, sending the unlucky creature screaming to its death. The brutes turned to me, wondering what had happened, so did the marines. One of the troopers, a man, yelled, "Picked up a friendly!" I started off the fight by throwing a grenade, causing the brutes to get over their stupor. They started running in circles, screaming like chickens. They didn't know which way to face, so they resolved to shot everywhere. I could already see some cases of friendly fire in their ranks. One by one the brutes fell, by my hand, by the marines or even by their own brethren.

I didn't see any more enemies; I rushed over to the marines. The male greeted me, "Sir, glad you showed up, we got left behind in the evacuation, we've got wounded." He ushered me behind them, I saw the girl kneeling over a boy with blonde hair, a faint tear falling down her face. I turned away, "I'll get you guys out of here but my primary objective is the covenant jammer stationed here." The marine nodded, "We were stranded on the top floor, eleven marines in total, we started working out way down the building, lost everyone. I'm afraid he won't make it. Jammers right behind us, we got between the brutes and their objective, they hammered us."

I nodded. I walked up to the jammer, pulling a set of C4 out of my thigh pocket. After it was firmly in place, I picked up the injured man like a sack of flour and, much to the surprise of the fellow marines, ran at a pace that the marines could barely match. The marines guarding the falcon watched as I ran outside, surprised that there were fellow marines right on my tail. I watched as a marine with a cross on his arm ran forwards, helping me take the wounded soldier. We loaded him on to the chopper, the girl marine close behind. I handed the detonator to the marine leader before hopping into the cockpit. Slowly, but surely, the twin propellers began to spin, the marines began to file onto the helicopter.

I turned, "Is everybody on?" I got a bunch of curt nods. I slowly lifted off, just in time, multiple skirmishers burst out of the building, screeching as if to say, "Come back!" I pulled out of firing range and turned to the passenger bay, "Send it!" I yelled. The marine holding the detonator clicked it and watched as a massive explosion filled the building, multiple support beams, already weary from no maintenance, simply gave way, causing the building in all senses of the word, to fall apart, piece by piece.

I maneuvered the helicopter away from the crumbling ruins of the hospital, careful to avoid falling debris. The medic immediately began to perform emergency first aid on the injured trooper, filling his wounds with bio foam. A voice fizzled into existence on the radio, "Noble 6, Noble 2, reports say that the hospital had collapsed in on itself, your handiwork?" I responded, "Yes Noble 2, covenant jammer has been destroyed. Please begin transmitting secondary coordinates." Slowly, a navigational marker appeared on my HUD, almost on the other side of the city. "Noble 6, please confirm your received coordinates." I keyed in, "Noble 2, coordinates are updated, beginning approach."

I watched as the Navigation marker finally identified the distance, almost on the other side of the city. I wheeled around, turning to the building. Apparently, the second jammer was located inside the Sinoviet center complex, a technology manufacturer, the "Apple" of the 26th century. I started towards the building, kicking in thruster support to get there just a bit faster. I looked down to see a couple marines making there way into a small building, their urgency extremely apparent. I remembered hearing about a makeshift glassing shelter in the area; I hope they made it there in time. I hope I made it back to the Olympia tower bunker in time; I also had to worry about the five marines on board as well.

I started to near the Sinoviet tower when a voice came on, "Noble 2, this is Gunnery Sergeant Buck, 11th ODST, need assistance in the form of air support." Kat quickly cut in, "Buck, good to know your still around, what's the situation?" Buck keyed in, urgency in his voice, "My team was helping evacuate some trapped civilians in Aleiaho tower, roof caved in, my teams stuck, corvettes gonna glass the building in a couple minutes, I've got a pelican on standby for evacuation, need to get my team out."

I jumped in, "Buck, this is noble 6, I'll cover your transport, make it quick, I've got to take out the covenant jammers." Buck sent a confirmation light indicating he had gotten the message. A pelican flew right beneath us, I maneuvered to follow behind. I saw the remains of a massive high way, running straight through the city, right below us, a building that was literally caved in lay wasted in the middle of a roundabout. Covenant were coming in from all directions. The pelican landed on the front path way and Buck ran out, a large hulking man followed with a skull and cross bones on his chest, rocket launcher at the ready. I maneuvered over the parked pelican, turning towards an encroaching covenant patrol. They were screaming in glee at the parked falcon, ready to "Cleanse the universe."

My job of course was to make sure that didn't happen. I gunned them down, screams of pain and frustration followed. The gunners started to open up, the covenant were filling the streets. We literally fired non-stop. At this rate, the pelican was going to be overwhelmed. I saw movement from inside the building; Buck was helping a young woman with ginger hair out of the building, the girl holding a recon helmet exclusive to ONI. The other man was hauling a sniper in blue armor out, like a sack of flower. A final man ran out of the building, limping slowly, pistol blindly firing in the direction of the covenant. "Noble 6, all souls accounted for, lets get out of here." Buck said. I ascended and parked a safe distance, firing into the ever-growing covenant patrol. The pelican started to take off and began flying away, I followed in suit, making sure it cleared skyscraper height.

The pelican evened out and slowly flew away from the city, Buck thanked me over the radio, "Most appreciated Spartan… See you in hell." I sighed before turning back to the jammer. The Sinoviet building was extremely close now, looming in front of me, a massive pentagon glared in the night sky. I pulled over the landing pad, expecting resistance. Nothing, not a sound, came from the building. I hesitated before landing. I slowly climbed out and covered the marines as they filed out, setting up defensive positions around the helicopter. I walked up to the leader, "Stay frosty, something doesn't feel right. As soon as I come out, don't bother covering me, just get in." The leader nodded, "Yes sir."

I stalked inside, wondering what was going on, the eerie silence was starting to get to me. I didn't see anything, no humans or covenant. What shocked me the most was that, while there we plasma stains and bullet holes riddling the walls, there were no bodies. I heard, this was probably my imagination, a brief buzzing would occasionally fill the hallways. I reached an office bureau and saw a service elevator; I guessed I was going in the right direction. I flicked on the button, hoping it was in working order. The door slowly opened, I pressed the down button, the door closed slowly. My stomach lurched as the elevator went down. Slowly, the door opened and I saw one long corridor, the buzzing was much louder now.

I walked towards the source of the buzzing, DMR raised. A door on my right slid open and I saw my goal, the jammer was still on, blinking and blurring away. I walked up and placed a C4 charge when the buzzing sound suddenly stopped. Everything around me froze. I heard small clicking come out of an acid corroded wall on my right. An insect, much like a cross between a bee and a dragonfly, crawled through the wall, four eyes regarding me. A drone. The covenant's most recent additions to their military were drones; a group of insect-like aliens that had worshiped hive gods of their own creation. When the covenant found out, well, they decided to enforce their own beliefs. They main hives were burned, forcing the drones themselves in chains. The only reason they managed to survive as a culture was that the queens had structured a peace treaty allowing them to become members of the covenant.

Drones are extremely dangerous, while one alone is easily dealt with; these things have been known to swarm over objects deemed important by their masters. Things like the covenant jammer. The drone gnashed its mandibles at me before releasing a terrible noise, not to different from a car-crash. I shot it with my DMR before taking off, back down the corridor, towards the elevator. The buzzing was now a massive collection of noise, enough to drive someone without ear protection deaf. I jammed the elevator button, causing it to open slowly. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the corridor full to the brim with drones, all of which were flying, buzzing and screaming towards me. The door fully opened and I dashed in before hitting the close button. The drones were almost at the elevator. I started shooting, not even bothering to aim, with this many drones it was impossible to miss.

The doors closed, the last thing I saw was the hideous face of a drone pressed up against the elevator doors. The elevator skyrocketed. I could here the drones buzzing grow faint. I finally reached the flight deck floor; I squeezed through the doors before they were fully open. I bolted towards the landing pad; the buzz of the drones was getting louder again. I dashed through the office bureau before slamming my way through a stationary door, blasting onto the flight deck. The marines followed my orders to the letter, I was grateful. I had the propeller blades spinning with everyone on board when the first drone appeared on the landing pad. It pointed; shrieking and the rest of its hive appeared quickly after. I lifted off and watched as the lead marine took a couple potshots with his pistol on some of the drones clinging to the helicopter. I pulled away and clicked the detonator. The drones were surrounded in an enveloping fire.

I pulled away, "That was to close for comfort." Kat appeared on the radio, "Noble 6, Noble 2, is the second covenant jammer dealt with?" I responded, "Noble 2, Noble 6, covenant jammer dealt with, requesting coordinates to final jammer." A final navigational marker appeared on my HUD. Nightclub Errera appeared in the distance, it would take a couple minutes to get there. I saw the corvette slowly finish glassing the city out skirts before making its way inwards. I hoped the local forces had made it to the glassing bunkers. The leader whistled, "Poor saps, hope they make it." The medic nodded, "Yeah… hey what'd you think of the Spartan. Walking into a bugger hive? That takes some serious balls." The girl nodded, "I hear that Spartans aren't actually humans, their actually unmanned vehicles used by ONI to do the dirty work."

Everyone nodded, already having their minds made up. I shook my head, how deluded can some people be? I finally reached club Errera, I saw a single trooper pinned down, exchanging shots with multiple hunters. The music from the nightclub was automatic, filling the air with lame dub step music. I hovered above the trooper and started to fire at the hunters. No matter how powerful a .75 caliber bullet is, punching through three feet of compacted titanium is not within its abilities. However, a hunter does have weak spots, getting swarmed in rapid fire, it would be almost certain that one of those weak spots would be hit. After that, it's only a certain amount of time until the entire creature collapses. Slowly, the hunters fell, with one barely managing to retreat into the nightclub. The marine waved to me as I landed, gratitude filling his face covered in crinkles, evidently he smiled quite a lot.

I nodded as the troopers took their final defensive positions. I walked up to the trooper, "I'm here for the jammer, you know where it is?" He nodded, "Its inside, behind the DJ stand, there's one hunter inside, me and my squad were doing well till those hunters showed up, I'm all that's left." I nodded, "Stay here, I'll take care of this." He nodded gratefully and wearily slumped in the final empty seat of the falcon. I couldn't fit anyone else. I stormed inside, DMR reloaded and ready for battle. The wounded hunter stood in the middle of the dance floor, gun wearily raised. I stormed forwards, the music blaring. The hunter raised its gun and shield, blasting everywhere. I spun from pillar to pillar. I ducked behind a snack vendor.

I turned and saw the freezer door wide open, multiple hooks holding up a couple moa burgers, popular with tourists. "Choose. Choose. Choose." They whispered. I could debate my sanity later, I did as the creepy voices instructed. When your Dad is Chaos, you tend to do what commanding voices that have no traceable source tell you to. I grabbed a hook, something clicked inside me, like this seemed natural. The hunter walked up to the counter, I vaulted over, surprising the creature. I landed on top of it, hook dug deep in the tentacle creatures making up its neck. I pulled to the side and with a sickening _rrriiippp_ the hook pulled cleanly out. The now mangled hanging hook was thrown aside, but it did the job. The hunter was huddled on the ground, slowly bleeding out.

I heard a huge noise coming from the center of the room; the jammer was sitting right behind the DJ stand. I walked up the flashy spiral staircase and set up the final piece of C4. I casually took one last look at the vendor booth, remembering something Chaos told me. I still didn't understand it because, just like everything Chaos told me, it was cryptic. He said, "You don't choose you symbol of power… it chooses you." While my Dad was probably just fooling around, I felt like the whispering had something to do with my Dads metaphor.

I finally reached the falcon and casually hopped in the cockpit. I turned to see the marine defending the club get off. "Sir, Thank you for the assistance, but my assigned orders are to protect the club." I shook my head, "Dude, U.N.S.C is pulling on your leg, right now, orders or not, everyone has been told to report to a local glassing bunker, that corvette," I gestured towards the corvette which was getting ever closer, "Is not going to wait until you get reassigned to evacuate, if superiors decide to court martial, it was a direct order for you to evacuate on my chopper issued by me. Now get on." The trooper sighed with relief and hopped on, the leader patting the battle-hardened veteran on the back.

I decided to contact Kat, "Noble 2, Noble 6, final covenant jammer has been destroyed, making my way back to baseplate with full party of evacuated marines." Kat keyed back, "Well done 6, extending landing pad." I looked forwards and saw the Olympia tower slowly coming into view. I gratefully landed and hopped out, patting the falcon as the marines shuffled inside. The leader stayed outside. "Thank you sir… for everything." I nodded, "It was nothing." The leader shook his head, "No sir, it wasn't nothing, you saved me and my fellow troopers lives. Thank you." I nodded, "The praise is appreciated, listen, I want you to report to the bunker under the tower, go by elevator. I've got a little bit of work to do with the rest of Noble." He nodded and walked away, I turned back to the falcon when a thought came to mind, "Hey, I never caught you name." He turned and managed a wistful smile, "Billy." I nodded and turned back to say good bye one last time to the falcon. This thing had served me well, but the scars of battle were starting to show.

I walked inside and saw June greet me. "You flew well tonight." I nodded and followed her inside. Carter and Kat had turned the upper floor into the ultimate command center, with half the room full of Kats communication equipment, I saw Kat fiddling away with her radio, now fully able to communicate with the rest of the city, warning troops to report to the glassing bunkers. I saw Emile perched in the corner, sharpening his black Kukri knife. Apparently he found some form of comfort in the action. Carter turned when I came in and stood to greet me, "Well done Shadow, you did well." I nodded and collapsed in a free chair. Kat had finally finished coordinating the glassing shelter orders and turned in her swivel chair, throwing her helmet on the ground. "Finally." All we had to do now was report to the shelter and wait out the glassing.

Carter sat, "… This needs to be discussed." He beckoned everyone over to the dining table in the middle of the room. June and Emile pulled out chairs and sat. "As you are all aware off, Jorge has been killed." Kat finally turned her chair to the table, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. "We know that his passing has come at an unfortunate time. But we must remember, his sacrifice was not in vain, Reach is doomed. That much is certain, but we can still save its inhabitants. We must do everything we can to save civilians and stranded soldiers alike." Carter stood, "I want to make this clear, this entire debacle is not Kats fault. I've already been signed into court martial for beating up multiple people who have said otherwise. I don't mind doing it again, but I want to hear everyone's thoughts on this."

Everyone turned to June, "I do not fault Catherine in the least, she had nothing to do with a casualty of war." We turned to Emile, he shrugged, "I'm with June, Kat, and Carter for that matter, you can't keep blaming yourself for every fatality Noble experiences, Jorge wouldn't like that… Thom wouldn't like that." The room froze; the mention of the previous "Noble 6" had that effect. Everyone slowly turned to me, I sighed, "If it was anyone's fault, it was mine, Jorge chose to sacrifice himself… I wanted to take his place. Kat… I don't blame you." I said slowly making eye contact with everyone.

Kat sighed, "Thank you… I'm sorry." Carter pulled Kat into an embrace, followed by Emile, then June. I stood awkwardly in the corner; obviously this was an old tradition. Carter looked over at me, "Oh, you think you're to cool for a hug, get you butt over here, being part of Noble means being part of group hugs." I shook my head but nonetheless walked over and joined everyone. We stood in silence for a few seconds before something pinged over the radio on loudspeaker. Kat sighed, "Really?!" She pulled away and thumbed the radio. "It's Holland. He's asking for you Carter." He sighed and caught the phone Kat tossed him. "Yes sir… understood sir."

He turned to us, "We've been redeployed to-" That was as far as he got, a massive explosion filled the air to our right. Kat yelled, "They've begun their glassing!" She ran and grabbed her helmet. Everyone ran to the twin elevators, I stayed and grabbed Kat by the arm, pulling her to the elevator. She fumbled with her helmet as I shoved her in and hit the close button. Kat threw on her helmet, "Their right outside, we need to get to the bunker right now!" Carter's elevator arrived first, Carter, June and Emile raced to the elevator. Our door opened close behind. Our shielding slowly flickered out; I barely gave it a second thought as we raced towards the blast doors, six meters of reinforced titanium alloy. I saw Carter inside the bunker, gesturing frantically. Billy was practically pushing June and Emile inside. We were running when I heard the familiar whirr of a covenant phantom.

A loud crack filled the air. Kat collapsed onto the ground, a gaping hole through the middle of her now useless helmet. I caught her as she slumped lifelessly to the floor. I pulled her pistol out of its holster and shot at the Elite officer taking potshots at me. I managed to hit it in the face, Carter roared in anger and whipped out his assault file, quickly followed by June and Emile. As one we fired on the drop ship, ripping it apart, the ruined ship hovered away, smoking. I picked up Kat bridal style and rushed through the doors that were slowly closing, everyone else close behind. I placed Kat's lifeless body on an empty table and, much to the astonishment of the marines I had rescued, Carter ran up, tossing his helmet to the side. He placed his ear on top of her chest, checking for something, anything that would indicate her survival. "They really are human." The girl whispered. The marine medic walked up, he did the same as Carter, "She's dead." He pronounced.

Emile smacked his fist into the wall in anger, June stood still as a stone. I slowly slid down to the floor, back against the wall. I barely held back my tears. Carter wailed loudly, screaming in agony.

Over the next six days, we stayed in the bunker, everyone slowly coming to terms with Kats death. Carter was filled with some form an angry determination, like he was going to kill everything in his path. On the seventh day, the bunker doors slowly slid open, revealing a city full of flames. No building higher then two stories remained, the Olympia tower crumpled all around us. I shook my head. Carter silently walked out with Kats body in his hand. He wouldn't meet anyone's eyes. I looked over at June who lit a signal flare. A pair of pelicans slowly came into view, one for the marines and Kat's body, the other for us.

My last glimpse of Kat was her helmet being removed, her marred face staring at me.

Bianca/ Kat's/ Noble 2 POV

I was wondering if would be sent back to the underworld, if the Chaos thing was just a dream. The needle from the needle rifle killed me instantly, as if I had simply closed my eyes. I wondered if I opened my eyes, I would be back with Noble team. I was meet with a much more different scene. Chaos's throne room, reading spire in the middle of the room enveloped every corner of my field of vision. I could pick out four figures, a tall man, stood closest to me, covered in black robes and shadows, eyes twinkling with the stars and the planets. Chaos. The man behind him was extremely familiar, a man with a black hat and a long, flowing beard started walking towards me. He enveloped me in a fatherly hug, "Hello my little Bianca." I cried in delight, "Uncle Da Vinci!" He released me and I finally saw the last two people in the room.

One stood in a black, hot pink highlighted, skintight one-piece body suit; she had blonde hair with cherry blossom lips, much like super model. She looked familiar. The other ran forwards and enveloped me in a hug, he was a mountain of a man, 6 feet 11 inches at least, covered in yellow E.O.D. armor with a five on it, with a helmet fully encased in a blast shield that was on a nearby table, revealing an African American complexion with a mass of messy dreadlocks. Jorge. I started to tear up, "Jorge… I-my-I'm so sorry." He held a finger to my lips; "I don't blame you for anything "Kat". Although, while we both stayed at camp Half-blood for a while, I don't believe we've meet formally, can I have a name please?" He stepped away and wrapped his hand around the girl's waist. I turned to Chaos, who nodded.

"Bianca Di'Angelo. If I give a name, I expect some in return." The man smiled, "Di'Angelo… sounds like Nico's last name, good kid. Well, seems fair, names Charles, Charles Beckendorf, call me Beckendorf. This is my wife, Silena." The girl walked forwards and grasped my hand, shaking it lightly. "Pleasure." Beckendorf nodded. A though occurred to me, "Speaking of Nico, how is he?" Everyone turned to Chaos, he sighed, "Bianca, Nico has died on Earth." I choked up, "I-I…" He walked over to the reading spire, "Watch." Everyone crowded around the spire of liquid that slowly warped to reveal a black cabin with green torches and a skull over the front door. It was shot from what could be described as an "Ants" POV. A foot stepped right next to us. An armored foot.

The scene flashed to inside the cabin, where Nico was brushing his teeth. He gurgled and spat the water into the sink before throwing on a shirt and hopping on his bed. A knock on the door pulled the annoyed boy out of bed. He slowly opened the door and saw Annabeth, who stood in full battle armor, knife in hand. Her eyes were puffy, but her body remained stiff, as if she didn't have a say in what she did. Nico hesitated and pulled a strained smile, "He-hey Annabeth, ah, why are you in armor, don't tell me you sleep in that stuff?" He joked, his nervousness apparent. A boy, acne scarring his overly tanned face that was obviously artificial, sneered, "Thank you Annabeth, this will be the final straw for "Golden boy."

Nico frowned, "Wesbrook, why are you here, don't tell me you're here to snog your stolen girlfriend?" He growled, his obviously tiny brain cells struggling to register Nico's words, "You're about to pay for everything you've done to my plans, all the spying, this is my life, I will have it and no brother of mine will take it from me." He pulled out his sword. Nico shrugged and slowly walked into his cabin, grabbing his sword subtly, Wesbrook stumbled forwards, as if he were drunk on his own vanity, he swung his sword in a downward arc. Nico whipped out his sword and countered, easily outmatching the pompous brat, he pushed him to the ground and held his sword to the 15-year-old boys throat.

Suddenly, multiple campers burst into the room, cornering Nico. Almost in sync they leveled spears at him, he stood his ground. Wesbrook slowly got up, "Kill him." He slurred. As one the spears were jabbed but Nico wasn't done yet, he spun and knocked aside every blow. One by one he engaged the campers until they all lay on the ground, unconscious. Nico grinned and turned to Wesbrook, "In the morning, everyone will know that you are a power hungry slug, tainting the reputations good people like Percy. He's been disowned because of your ideals, but after tonight you will be thrown away to the darkest depths of Tartarus and Percy will be welcomed back and be given the respect he deserves." His stopped and suddenly went slack before slowly crumpling to the floor. Annabeth stood shaking her head like she couldn't believe she had done this heinous act when Wesbrook grabbed her by the arm, "Let's get out of here!" He yelled.

Nico had a gaping hole in his heart, the knife long since removed, speeding up the blood loss. A figure burst into the cabin, bronze sword held high. That sword was thrown aside as the figure knelt to the floor. Cries of surprise and anger quickly gave way to sobs that shook the figure, turning the once proud warrior into a wreck. "Percy." Nico whispered before collapsing in Percy's arms, wails filled the air.

The reading spire slowly shifted to show the rest of Noble team; Emile sat at the back of the pelican, angrily sharpening his knife. Chaos walked forwards, "It would appear that like you, Nico has been given a second chance, now, off with you, your Uncle wants to get you reacquainted with workshop." I shuffled silently out of the building, following Uncle Da Vinci's waving hand. Beckendorf turned and followed, Silena bringing up the rear. As I left I heard Chaos muttering to himself, "The second council leader has arrived, I must prepare for the rest, we don't have much time left."

A.N. Thanks for being so patient for this chapter, I'm happy to say that I am extremely pumped about the ending of this book. I made a ton of references to my next book, "Into the dark and forward unto dawn 2, The Great Divide." I am so excited; I think you guys are going to love this series. Nearing the end of book 1, please review!

I'll update in about 1-2 weeks, see you all later

Ipods-And-Buds-1239


	11. Package

**Into the Dark and forward unto dawn 11**

A.N. All right, before everyone gets all mad at me, I lost my memory stick that had this chapter on it, I finally found it and have worked all day on fixing and finishing this chapter, I fell stupid about making a promise and breaking soon after, but I hope you guys can forgive me. If such a thing happens again, check my profile, I'll update progress there. Well… I think that was my biggest response to a chapter. You guys are awesome! I just got back from a ski trip, it was in West Virginia, I think the resort was called winter place. I was a bit busy, having mock IGCSE's at my school, very hard tests. So I haven't had a moment to myself lately, but I will continue this story.

Reviews:

aesir21: I was wondering what happened, next time, I think I'll just post the chapter, from now on, no author notes replacing chapters! Thanks for the compliment, I'm almost done with the story, there's roughly four chapters left. I can't wait to write Bianca's and Nico's reactions to each other's identities. Thanks for being so supportive; you were my first consistent reader.

WingGundamZero98: Well, Westbrook has no honor, I'm trying to make him seem like a stuck up pig. But I think Annabeth might be able to regret what she's done, pay close attention to "A long night", specifically when Beckendorf has his dream of Camp Half-blood. As I am still updating, no this is not my last chapter, there's about four more chapters. Just like aesir21 you were one of my first readers and one of the most dedicated, you have my thanks.

Sobekton: I've been trying to make this story unique, no one else has made a story like this, so I had to make a unique concept to fit a one of a kind story, yes I had to create a death scene for Zoe/June, but if you've read the Halo novels, In "The fall of Reach", there's a little after note that talks about Halsey's fate, while this was a reference to the next book, it did say that the Spartan tasked with her safety sacrificed himself to save Halsey, I though that might be a reference to June's inevitable death. Yeah I like the rangers and Chaos scenes as well but this book specifically acts as a prologue for the rest of the series, so it doesn't have that many Chaos scenes, but the following books, there will be tons! However, don't get too attached to the Rangers, there might just be a little twist at the end of the second book ;).

Guest: Not sure what you meant in this review, did you mean "They have to like Halsey?" I personally think Halsey is a jerk, kidnapping kids and making them into super soldiers. If your referring to this mission, the package, well, yeah they do have to do what Halsey says.

youtellme29: YEAH!

Fulliron: I'm impressed; someone else knows their stuff. Yes I know that the native language of Reach is based of Hungarian, but I didn't want to make Jorge/Beckendorf know Hungarian… it felt weird. So I had Kat translate with a machine, Latin felt right to me and besides, under Chaos's tutelage, they might learn a bit of the language of Rome. I hope that clears that up.

Now, on with the chapter

Percy/Shadow/Noble 6 POV

I still can't believe that we got tasked with a torch and burn operation. On Sword base nonetheless. Whatever Holland was on when he ordered us to do that, it must have been pretty strong. I was still surprised to see any interest in this place; the covenant locally glassed the place shortly after we left. I remembered what the orders were, blast our way into sword base and follow the navigational markers. This was almost too easy. What surprised me the most was that we weren't alone; we were supposed to escort some local ODST's into the base where they would set charges and fly away on a designated falcon. There was some serious use of military resources here, any able bodied flying vehicle was designated in the use of evacuating civilians and stranded troopers.

Apparently the U.N.S.C were not the only one interested in sword base, 3 battalions of covenant troops, plus air support, had set up a full on military perimeter around the base. We were out numbered and out gunned. It didn't help that we were down by two members. First Jorge and now Kat. I wasn't sure what we would do now. The brass in charge of the U.N.S.C always used Spartans as hyper charged cannon fodder, sending us up on the front lines to lighten covenant forces enough for the U.N.S.C soldiers in reserve to storm the fortress. I knew we were slowly losing Spartans, I remembered that here were about 9 Spartans left in the entire U.N.S.C military. All of which were still stranded on Reach. I was starting to think that the Spartan program wouldn't survive this war.

I walked along a golden ridge, deep in thought. What was a once beautiful mountainside, now a perilous desert. Glassing was the ultimate tool of fear, killing millions of people. But there true purpose was to wipe clean all remnants of human civilization, turning thriving human communities into pale, broken planets. Nothing survived. I always thought that the covenant were just lucky, able to throw massive amounts of cannon fodder and plasma at us until we cracked. I was starting to realize that they used another weapon, fear, always residing in the back of the human mind, threatening everything humanity had accomplished, never falling, never straying from their "Religious" task.

I knelt down and looked through the scope of my DMR, watching as multiple jackal snipers began to yap at a grunt engineer that was fixing a ghost. Another grunt laughed at what the jackals were saying, leaning back in the seat of his shade turret. Carters muffled voice came on over comms, "6, we're facing a covenant force that is prepared for a massive invasion, not a small strike force, keep this quiet and everything will be a lot easier. Clear out the AA turrets guarding the main road leading into the base so the rest of Noble can land. We'll come out guns blazing, covenant won't know what hit them."

I turned and watched as a camouflaged ODST sniper made his way out of the underbrush, followed by three other ODST's of various skillsets, an engineer, a marksmen and an assault specialist. The sniper knelt next to me, "We'll follow you sir." I nodded and gestured to the jackal snipers, "Hit them first, I'll take the ghost, we need to concentrate fire on the shade turret." He nodded and whipped out a sniper rifle, using the bipod against a rock, he lined up the first shot. I watched through my scope as a jackal sniper fell from a tree, followed by multiple others. I managed to hit the startled engineer, a frail shriek filling the air. I watched as the final jackal fell before turning and focusing on the shade turret. I hit the grunt, stunning it while the sniper shot open the ammunition canisters. The shade turret was enveloped in a nasty green explosion.

I held up my fist, signaling wait to the rest of the marines. I surveyed the kill zone, "All hostiles eliminated, lets move." I waved forwards before sliding down the ridge, landing in a small lake. The sheer heat of the glassing had melted all the surrounding glaciers. Some sort of debris sat in the lake, small propeller blades barely clearing the surface, one of the ODSTs inspected it, "Old Falcon, no survivors." I nodded and turned back to our route. I looked around, despite there being massive amounts of covenant in the area; this seemed a little to easy. Apparently Emile though the same, "Hey Carter, this seems… I don't know, a little overkill?"

Carter came on the mike again, "I know why you think that Emile, but the fact remains that we have direct orders from O.N.I, looks can be deceiving." Emile was silent. I kept advancing along the road. This was taking a bit to long, "Carter, how far away is sword base?" Carter replied wearily, "Shadow, the base is almost 8 miles away." I shook my head while I turned to the ODSTs, "Fan out guys, let's find some transport that's in somewhat decent shape." I looked around and saw what seemed like a massive tube sticking above a small ridge, it was a bit far away. I nudged the sniper, "What's that?" He turned and looked closely at it through his scope.

"I-I don't believe it!" He smiled, "Looks like a serviceable scorpion!" I shook my head, not believing our luck, no doubt the closer we got to the base, the more covenant we would see, I was hoping we could find something that we could use to power our way through, but I wasn't expecting a Scorpion. When I lived on earth back in the 21st century, the main battle winner was tank superiority, having more armored vehicles than your opponent. The U.N.S.C engineer corps apparently thought the same; they used old blue prints to design the monster of today's battlefield, the M808B main battle tank. A scorpion weighed almost 70 tones, being almost completely resistant to all small arms fire. You could shoot it all day with an assault rifle and still not hit the interior. It had a massive turret firing at a rate of one shot every twelve seconds, with the shells reaching close to supersonic speeds. On pretty much everything short of a wraith, it was always a one-shot kill.

The main gun was controlled by the driver, who sat in a fully encased bulletproof glass cockpit sitting on the far left of the vehicle. In addition to the driver, the vehicle could hold up to five foot soldiers, with one manning the .50 caliber turret that encased every part of the gunner except the head, and the remaining four sitting on the four skids guarding the four individual caterpillar treads. While the skids were completely undefended, they were easy to hop on and off of.

I scrambled down the ridge, closely followed by the rest of the ODSTs. When we neared the monster, I noticed it was not in mint condition, one of the tread covers on the rear left tread had been ripped off, the cockpit was pretty much ruined, but it seemed like it was still in working condition, frankly I didn't care, I wasn't walking 8 miles through covenant territory. I hopped in and flicked on the keys, the engine started on the first try, a good sign. I watched the assault specialist as he climbed in the turret seat, giving me the thumbs up signaling that it was serviceable. The rest of the ODSTs climbed onto the tank and I slowly eased my way off the bank the behemoth was stranded on.

The tank rattled down the road, I heard cries of surprise and fear ahead of me. A startled patrol of covenant jackals, grunts and a lone elite stared at us in shock; I loaded the main battle cannon. The massive turret slowly turned into position. I lined up the bunched together patrol and willed the controls to fire. A second later, a sound that rivaled Zeus's master bolt exploded from right above me, the patrol sprawled in all directions. Little flames surrounded the impact site, the elite stumbled to his feet, looking at me with a "What the?" look. The gunner opened up, twin columns of flame erupted from the double barrel turret. The elite slowly crumpled to the ground. I continued down the road scanning ahead. I heard an almost silent whirr, twin ghosts appeared in front of me, the road was now enclosed in twin ridges, the ghosts barely fitting on either side of me.

"Hang on gentlemen." I called and jammed right, smashing the ghost into the ridge, the elite driver screaming in fury before exploding in a blue fiery cloud. The sniper lined up the grunt beside the tank and calmly squeezing the trigger, the grunt driving the fragile vehicle was thrown out, the ghost wobbling side to side before flipping end over end. I slowed down and heard Carters voice over the radio, "Shadow, you've got the first AA gun straight ahead, take it down." I cleared the ridges and watched as alarm bells went off. I blasted a shade turret; the gunner didn't know what had hit it. The turret gunner opened up, then the marksmen, then the sniper, finally the demolisher. A revenant appeared ahead of us, but it was short-lived, twin tongues of fire erupted from the demolisher's rocket launcher.

I could see the Anti-air gun now, a tyrant class. I turned us towards it, leaving the small covenant troops around us for the passengers. Slowly we neared it; I could see the blue core. Multiple jackal snipers appeared on the over watch platform but the marksmen and the sniper quickly took care of them. I saw the humming plasma processing core inside the center of the gun, I carefully lined up a shot. The gun literally tore itself in two, the main turret falling of the core and rolling down to the surrounding lake. The guns core continued to explode, I didn't pay attention, I just kept driving. I heard Carter's voice appear on the mike, "Pick it up Shadow, the Falcons are on standby, we're up to our necks in covenant troops, we need to land now!"

"On it." I replied before continuing down the road. I didn't see anymore covenant patrols, it seemed like they had just left. We continued down the pathway and neared the cliffside overlooking the main impact site of the glassing. I looked into the sky and saw the transport Falcons slowly coming into view. The two remaining AA guns were in sight, already picking up the threat and turning. Time to get their attention. I took a pot shot on the first gun, sending the gun spinning out of control, the main latch securing the turret to the core almost non-existent.

The second gun turned to face me, expecting some sort of aircraft; I shot its core, causing a massive explosion. Call it poor covenant engineering, but the first gun was so close to the second gun, they both erupted in twin columns of fire. A covenant patrol came towards us, this time lead by twin hunters. They began to charge their wrist mounted fuel rod cannons, the grunts behind them wiggling their ways forward, expecting an easy kill. I don't think these things had ever fought a scorpion. "Open fire!" I yelled. All Hades broke loose, the ODSTs fired, streams of light streaking towards the patrol, I fired the main cannon. We kept firing at the patrol, bombarding it into nothing.

"Well done Shadow, well provide air support the rest of the way in." Carter informed. Another covenant patrol came towards us; the Falcons came into position over us, nose-mounted guns rattling. This patrol was quickly dealt with. "Which way Carter?" I asked, Carter replied quickly, "Straight ahead, the base should be in sight soon. I saw a huge stretched hexagon in the distance, followed by the remains of small grey outposts. Sword base. I throttled the torque, the tank moving quickly down the dirt road. I heard the Falcons dart past us overhead. Soon we entered sword base's perimeter.

Multiple shade turrets turned to meet us; the Falcons took them head on, they started above us, flying parallel to the turrets. I saw Emile on one of the turrets, providing a steady stream of suppression on the covenant turrets. Something flashed by us, firing sloppily at one of the Falcons.

A Banshee narrowly avoided the stationary falcon before flipping around, turning back to try and take us out. I sighted the slowly descending aircraft, which barely avoided the belly of one of the Falcons. As it started to fire with its main plasma guns, I blasted it dead center, hitting the pilot perfectly. The banshee flew right over us, crash landing in the dirt, the under belly scrapping. One of the wings snapped off before slowly turning end over end. I rocketed through the main gates, the dead gate operator slumping forwards in his seat. The thin wooden gate shattered on collision.

A couple grunts that guarded the front entrance of the base itself quickly snapped out of their stupor, slowly raising the plasma pistols. The turret gunner quickly took care off them. Slowly, we pulled to a stop inside the massive courtyard, leaving plenty of space for the Falcons to land. Once everything was situated, everyone excluding the pilots hopped out, setting up a defensive perimeter. The Noble designated Falcon landed first, dropping off Carter, Emile and June. June pulled out her sniper rifle and scanned the surrounding area, "We're in the clear." The second falcon landed, the ODST's walked over, talking with the pilot. After a couple minutes, the assault specialist walked over, "We'll be moving inside in a minute, Holland says that as soon as your done, make your way off planet. Reach is scheduled to fall by the end of today." Carter nodded, "Thanks for the tip off, hey, what are you doing after the mission?"

The assault specialist stood still, "I'm going to pray that this doesn't happen on earth. I'm going to pray that my family is all right; my grandparents were on one of the civilian transports leaving New Alexandria. With any luck, they'll be safe on earth. I'm still asking myself how they found us." I nodded, "I heard that when they evacuated some planet on the outer rim, the covenant managed to hit one of the cruisers, the blast had a secret capsule inside it, carrying a tracker. The pilot, barely in his 20's and as vain as he could be, ignored protocol and jumped straight for Reach. And here we are, the destruction of a planet at the hands of a clumsy fool. The ODST nodded and walked away. Carter turned to me, "How did you come across that information?" I smiled, "Kats not the only one that can hack O.N.I's database." I walked away, Emile muttered, "What can't he do? He's a pilot, a professional sniper, a medic, what the heck?" I grinned, if only they knew.

Carter caught up to me, "Show off." He muttered. I grinned, "So what's our plan of action?" Carter turned to the rest of us, "Gentlemen, we are to follow designated coordinates into the base, similar to the route we followed last time we were here, the ODST team will set explosives on the structure supports before returning for extraction. Remember, they are not returning, they are headed straight for the ship breaking yards in Aszod, we have direct orders from the brass at O.N.I, if that gives you any indication of our mission parameters." I nodded.

We entered the base guns raised, the tension so thick that Emile could cut through it with his knife. But we were met with the exact opposite of what we expected… nothing. As this was O.N.I parameters, only the leading officer could have navigational directions. So we were forced to blindly follow Carter as we picked our way through the base, weaving through collapsed wall sections and vaulting over crumbled barricades. Occasionally we would meet a lone covenant, but they were quickly dispatched. Cater finally lead us down a brightly lit hallway that, amazingly, was still receiving electricity. Cater held up a fist before peering around the corridor, he waved for us to continue. "The navigation stops here." Carter informed.

I looked around; apparently, three unlucky marines had made their final stand here. I looked at the machine turret, which was rust covered and literally falling apart. Three mangled bodies covered with bite-marks lay on the floor, showing the dark side of a hungry covenant army. I shook my head, "Is this it?" I directed at Carter. He shook his head, as this was an O.N.I op, Auntie Dot was in charge of logistics. "I am sorry Noble one, but mission specifics indicate and confirm that you are in the right position." I shook my head, apparently the rest of Noble shared the feeling, "No, no way did we come here because of a messed up mission spec, come on Dot, give us the real objectives!" Emile growled impatiently.

Auntie Dot was short and to the point, "I'm sorry Noble 4, but O.N.I clearly stated… one moment… I-I'm receiving new coordinates from an unknown source." Carter shook his head, "They're still the same Dot, it's a dead-" That was as far as he got. The wall behind the fallen marines opened slowly and an elevator slowly came into position. "She's been expecting you." Dot said quietly.

A second door opened to reveal a service elevator with surrounding windows. An eerie red light shone in the top corner. Carter hesitantly stuck his foot on the elevator, putting pressure to make sure it wouldn't give way. It held and the rest of Noble piled in. The elevator went down tantalizingly slow, red lights marking each floor went by like flashes. I felt my ears pop as we went further down. Suddenly, the elevator slowed and we were met with the one thing I didn't expect.

A massive cavern filled with destroyed glaciers that created an all-natural maze surrounded us on all sides. I was shocked, I wasn't the only one. "What is this place?" June looked around in wonder. Emile shook his head, "Dunno, let's just finish the mission and get out of here." I nodded; this would be a terrible place for an ambush. A voice came on over the radio, "Hello Noble team. Welcome to the O.N.I section of sword base."

Carter shook his head, "Halsey… We thought you were dead." A tsk tsk sound came on over the comms, "Apparently, everyone on this planet thinks that. But here we are. I need your help." Emile shook his head, "Lady, this is a torch and burn op, we'll give you a lift, but this place is going to be buried in ten minutes." Halsey exploded, "Bury _any_ of this and you bury humanities best chance for survival!" Emile looked like he wanted to argue but I stepped between the two, "Halsey, we are here for a torch in burn… this complicates things, what are you doing here?"

A pause came over the radio, she spoke slowly, "Many years ago, an ancient race called the forerunners existed, their technology was cutting edge, I have an A.I that is extracting information from the ruins and databases inside the base, but the covenant are after the relics, they're here to take what belongs to their "Gods." The forerunners were covenant Gods? How ironic that they serve my father, whose chosen race is humanity.

Halsey spoke again, "Give me half an hour to finish the download and we can all get out of here, there are ammo caches outside the main doors." The elevator touched down and we sprinted forwards, dreading what we knew was sure to come. In five minutes, the sky is going to be filled with drop ships as one of the most efficient militaries in the galaxy prepares their assault on this base, Noble, I beg you, hold them back."

Carter sighed, "We'll do what we can, but you might want to, I don't know… hurry." No response was given; I heard four loud bleeps in sync. Four metal caskets came out of the ground, facing down range towards where we came. I inspected them, Carter came up to me, "What are they?" I stood up as a key pad popped out, the screen asking for a four digit pass code. Auntie Dot's voice came on over the radio, "8674." I typed it in and stood back. Suddenly something shot out. I quickly raised my rifle, but there was no need. A U.N.S.C turret slowly turned from side to side, laser protruding and sweeping the surrounding area. Anything that was not marked as friendly would be engaged. Cater looked around, "Shadow, get the rest of those turrets up and running, everyone else, set up a perimeter around the door.

We split up, I found the remaining turrets easily, each one placed strategically to cover a choke point. I turned on the final one just as the familiar buzz of a drop ship came on overhead. Emile jumped up and down, gesturing frantically to come back before turning and running back into position. One by one we knelt behind a make shift barricade guarding the door, pieces of scrap metal and ice pushed together, making a wall with firing slits. June knelt and tuned her sniper scope, "Carter, I have visual on the first drop ship. The phantom hovered above the ice, opening side door bays and spilling it's cargo of troops onto the ground. Carter, not even turning to June, gave his order, "Send it." A minor elite pointed in our direction before falling in heap to the ground. A mix of grunts and jackals slowly turned towards us and began to run, unknowingly coming into range of the first turret.

"I sure hope these things work." Emile muttered. The turret did not disappoint. A steady stream of fire erupted from the barrel, mowing down the remaining covenant in a matter of seconds. I almost cheered, but something stopped me. 17 more drop ships came through the ceiling, many carrying Wraiths. June slowly took aim at the phantom, which deposited its load of Brutes and skirmishers. Slowly, a full battalion came into view, ready to attack. The first turret quickly reacted, firing at the leading soldier, a hunter who was performing well under fire, its shield raised to protect vital areas. It slowly neared the first turret before stepping aside; a brute chieftain wielding a gravity hammer brought it down with massive force. The turret crumpled like an aluminum can.

Carter watched and grimaced as the act was done, "June, focus fire on anything that has a chance of destroying the turret." June barely nodded. The second turret immediately activated, popping out of its shell like a round form a gun barrel. It resumed the fire of the previous turret. I noticed the hunter nearing the second turret, the brute wielding the gravity hammer close behind. The turret immediately began to fire on the hunter, who despite taking a beating, was holding admirably. June immediately took notice of the pair and quickly breathed in, firing two shots. The hunter fell first, due to an impressive headshot, while the brutes leg gave out from beneath it, the creature shaking slightly as it glanced at the unforgiving turret.

The rest of the battalion came into view; close to 500 snarling, hobbling covenant soldiers thirsty for blood. I heard the whispering of plasma flew over our heads. Five massive plasma balls glowing bright blue crashed all around us. "Wraiths!" I yelled. I watched as the covenant swarmed the turret, which slowly gave in under the large amounts of plasma and grenades, bites and scratches. The third turret activated but it was too late, the sheer amount of covenant swarmed over it just like the other turret. It was then, that the covenant noticed us.

The frail shriek of a skirmisher alerted the entire covenant army of our presence. Close to thirty skirmishers immediately broke into a dead sprint on out position, the rest of the covenant close behind. The final turret activated and began firing on the advancing skirmishers, which tripped and fell like rag dolls. "They know were here! Fire, fire now!" Carter yelled. A crescendo of fire erupted from the remains of what was once Noble team. The covenant were either killed instantly or forced behind cover. "Hold them back!" Carter yelled, I sighted covenant after covenant, taking them out with a vengeance, they would not destroy the last hope for the survival of humanity.

The wraiths proved to be a problem, while the roof over the pavilion we were in protected us, we couldn't poke our heads out of cover without our shields flickering in protest. A couple times, we managed to catch a glimpse of the elusive tanks, but in this dark arena, they were well camouflaged. We always knew they were there, their mortars made sure of it.

After many minutes of nonstop fire, a voice came on over the radio, "Noble team… It's ready; I'm opening the doors. Be ready to get inside as soon as you can, this is to risky as it is, there can't be a delay." The skirmisher division of the covenant decided to make a final charge. They rushed the battlements, fighting at range quickly changed to close combat. I smashed the butt of my assault rifle over one of their heads before throwing it at another, which stumbled backwards, right onto Emile's knife. The turret was still working but we were going to be overwhelmed any second. "Noble, get inside, no delays!" Carter yelled.

We hightailed it inside, guns firing until the doors sealed shut. We turned only to be greeted by Halsey, "Welcome Noble team, I wish we had time for pleasantries, but those mutts will be burning through those doors any minute know. As if on cue, the steady stream of fire from the turret was silenced and growls of frustration erupted from the covenant outside. Halsey gestured for us to follow her, we reluctantly continued. To say that Halsey's lab was different was an understatement, a room full of diagrams in a messy formation that was against protocol greeted us. A massive hologram showed the remains of Reach, massive explosions caused by glassing illuminated the floating sphere. Data streamed around us in holographic channels, all resonating towards a single glowing blue canister.

"What, is that?" I asked pointing towards the canister. Halsey smiled, "This, Noble 6, is the key to our salvation. This is an A.I of my design that holds every bit of data O.N.I has in it's reserves about the forerunners, every sliver gleaned from every artifact, it's owner will be reunited with it shortly, but she needs a carrier." "She?" Emile asked, Halsey nodded before turning back to me, "Yes… and she's chosen you." I pointed to myself, "Me?" Halsey nodded exasperatedly, "Yes, she's observed your progress and after many hours of consideration, she deemed you worthy of carrying her."

An explosion shook the base, dust fell from the ceiling. Halsey sighed, "You will take her to the ship breaking yards in Aszod, a halcyon class battle ship headed by a close friend of mine, Commander Keyes, he will take you off planet, but you need to get there first." She delicately picked up the A.I with both hands and gave it to me, she didn't let go. "Do you have it?" She asked,  
"Yes." I nodded, "Say the words please." I sighed, "I have it." She reluctantly let go.

She gestured for us to follow down a corridor, towards what I assumed was a landing pad. Two pelicans awaited us.

Zoe/June's/Noble 3's POV

I walked towards the landing pads, watching Halsey closely. She seemed like she was on edge, unable to be at rest. I looked to Carter who turned to me and nodded, "June… please, escort Dr. Halsey to castle base." Halsey spun around, anger evident, "I need no escort!" She yelled. Emile tutted, "With that kind of temper, you do." She looked down resignedly and climbed into the pelican, glaring at Carter all the way. I turned back to Carter, "Goodbye… sir." I choked out, calling a man "Sir" was on the bottom of my to-do list, but after almost 15 years of leadership, he deserved that right. Carter patted me on the back, "Take care June." I nodded.

I climbed into the pelican, Halsey at the controls, we slowly lifted off. I watched as Carter flew the other pelican in the other direction, parting ways. Halsey thumbed something and the entire ice shelf collapsed, the eerie cries and moans of covenant floating on the breeze. A couple hours later, we passed into Castle base's air space. Not much was left; except a skeletal force of Human Military police and two of the remaining Spartans on planet. I struggled to remember their names. Fred… Kelly. Something like that. Plasma shot past us as a banshee came towards us, intent on shooting us down. A pelican is intended for air to ground air support and transportation, not dog fighting. We had no chance. The pelican crashed onto the ground, a massive dust cloud quickly forming, I led a confused Halsey out of the remains of the transport and towards the base entrance. Someone was rushing out to meet us.

The banshee made a second pass, intent on hitting Dr. Halsey. I pushed her out of the way. I barely registered the pain as plasma impacted my body, not a drop hit Halsey. I didn't see the figure, a male Spartan, pull out a rocket launcher and knock the bird out of the sky. I didn't see them stand over my body, trying to arouse me. I didn't feel them carry me inside. All I knew was that darkness was slowly overwhelming me.

I woke up in a familiar room, a massive reading spire that I was all too familiar with taking up the majority of the room. I was in a meditative position, a dark clothed male doing the same in front of me. Together we stood. I quickly got over my shock, "Chaos." I acknowledged. "Zoe." He smiled. A figure burst into the room, obviously mad, she didn't notice me as she began her rant, "CHAOS! WHY-" She saw me. She was in a skintight uniform, pitch black with sky blue highlights. A face that had haunted my dreams stared back at me. "Zoe." She whispered. "Bianca." I replied.

We enveloped each other in a hug, "I thought you were dead, reborn!" I cried, grateful for my fellow huntress returning to me. "I did, but instead of being reborn, I came here!" She pulled away, looking to Chaos for an explanation. He shrugged before turning back to his reading spire, we followed. It swirled before showing a pelican flying evasive maneuvers through a canyon, a familiar Spartan with a skull covering his mask stood out the back, grenade launcher firing towards a considerable amount of pursuing banshees and phantoms. I watched as he expertly shot a grenade, which spiraled outwards. It detonated when the Spartan released the trigger, a short-circuited banshee spun out of control before crashing into its brethren.

"There are only three members of the council that must complete their rite of passage, their time is limited. They all will die. They will resurrect to combat this new threat." He turned to us, "I must make plans, please leave me." I nodded and was ushered out by Bianca. She showed me the city, walking along a beautiful sidewalk that lined the banks of a river. A man that obviously thought highly of himself followed us, smirking. I shook my head and turned to Bianca, "Who is he?" She turned and sighed, "Not him again."

We stopped and waited for him to catch up, he smiled, showing nasty yellow teeth, "Yo babe, you wanna hit the town tonight, hook up maybe?" He smirked, obviously thinking I would say yes. I shook my head, "No, I do not wish to "Hook up." He shook his head, before trying to grab my arm, "I don't think you understand, you will go out with me." Bianca moved to help but I held up my hand. "You have five seconds to let go of my arm before I personally castrate you." He smirked, "Like that's ever going to happen." I counted the seconds. "Times up."

I smashed my knee in his groin, causing him to double over, he cried out and tried to retaliate, but I had weaved out of the way, bringing my leg up and swinging down, hitting the base of his neck. I turned to Bianca, who was grinning, "About time someone put him in his place." She kicked him hard in the ribs. "Why Chaos would ever allow someone like that into the city is beyond me, thankfully he can't touch another women due to being forbidden by Chaos, but anyone new… well, he tries his luck, I don't think we'll have any problems with him ever again."

I nodded before the events of today finally got to me. I knelt over, Bianca grasping my arm and helping me up. "What's wrong?" she asked. I sighed, "I have had a very long day, I wish to contemplate my actions as of late. Do you know anywhere quiet that I can go?" I asked. She nodded, "Chaos's botanical gardens, I'm about to meet some friends there, I'm certain they want to talk to you but I'm sure that they could wait a while." I nodded, she gestured to a hill that overlooked the city, she waved good-bye and descended down the hill. I saw her greet a young couple who sat under a willow tree before grabbing a sandwich out of a futuristic container.

I sat down and began to contemplate today's events. I went over Sword base, Noble teams stand, the A.I… Emile. I don't know why, but I felt drawn to him. He was the exact opposite of a normal man, polite, always helpful towards women. A vicious warrior who had a heart. A feeling stirred in my heart, something I had not felt since Heracles, but I quickly pushed it aside. I thought of my death. I thought of the rest of Noble team, I hoped they were okay. Chaos words rang in my head, "They all must die." This haunted me; did it mean that the rest of Noble team would die? I shook my head, before clearing every thought I had out of the way. I became semi conscious, forgetting everything. I was finally, after 15 years of viscous fighting and fruitless meditation, at peace.

A.N. YEAH! I finished the chapter, once again, super sorry I lost my memory stick and didn't update, but I hope this chapter makes up for it. I have contemplated two new stories, an Assassin's creed 3 story and a maximum ride, Percy Jackson and Bio shock crossover, I'll be putting up a poll soon. I hope someone acknowledges the use of two book characters, I'm on spring break now so expect another update a lot sooner, hope to see everyone soon.

Ipods-and-Buds-1239


	12. Delivery

Into the Dark and Forward unto Dawn Ch12

A.N. Sorry for the massive delay, I've going to try and make this up to you guys by finishing up this story before the start of summer. If anyone's interested, the next story will start at the beginning of summer vacation. I need to tell you guys something; I found a really good Assassins creed story called "Then and Now" by iTomboy. It's a Night Stalker/Lady Maverick story, which is a pretty decent coupling, it's only on its second chapter but it's got a _lot_ of potential. It's basically a take on the Night Stalkers past, where his rich parents take in the orphaned Lady Maverick and her brother, the Robber.

I've been planning my own Assassins Creed story that involves the multiplayer characters; it's nice to see such interest in the back-stories of the multiplayer community. Even if you don't know much about Assassins creed, this barely has any references to both the Templar and the Assassin orders (at the moment) and I'm sure there will be some sort of introduction from some character. Do remember, reading these Night Stalker stories will help you get used to the character I'm modeling Percy after in the next books (Yes it's likely he'll look like a futuristic Night Stalker.)

I am currently going to San Francisco soon, plus a move up to D.C, so don't expect frequent updates, but I'll do my best, thanks for sticking with me this long.

Reviews:

WingGundamZero98: Yeah, I know I gave that away, I meant to, but remember, they still don't know the identities of the remaining Noble team members. I can't wait to see their reactions to the revelation of "Carter's" identity.

aesir21: I am a proud supporter of Nico and Zoe, not many people think that this pairing would work, but keep in mind that these two have served close to 15 years together fighting a murderous band of over religious aliens. There's potential there. I will probably pair Luke with Bianca as well simply because I can. Yes, I decided to make an extra-long chapter that combines the two adventures together simply because I could. I cannot, _cannot_, wait to write Percy's showdown. I'm thinking a bit of "Son of Chaos" powers might come into play ;).

Xeno Chaos King: I was just sitting around, thinking, this story isn't going to get anymore reviews until I update. I check my email… Holy cow! Favorite, Follow, Author follow, author favorite, REVIEW! I checked everything, I love it when people do that, it makes me feel better about myself as a writer (I know that sounds weird, in this circumstance, I don't care.) These situations really show the support you guys give me, thank you!

MICROWAVEDHEDGEHOG: You're never to young to read and review, I know some six year olds that read fan fiction. You've got to remember that being a member of the site means you have every right to review, thanks for the compliment, hope you enjoy this chapter.

And now, on with the chapter!

Shadow's/Percy's/Noble 6 POV

Explosions shook the pelican as our critically injured leader expertly flew the craft through the remains of a once great canyon range towards the ship breaking yards in Aszod. A lucky shot from a jackal sniper had come close to tearing Carters left arm off, with little shots in between peppering our leader's battered body with holes. It was a miracle that he was still breathing, much less flying a pelican away from a squadron of banshees. A voice came on over the radio, "Noble 1, please seek immediate medical attention." Auntie Dot advised over the radio.

Carter didn't respond, eyes fixed forwards. Suddenly the craft shook again, my shields flickered. I spun around to see a couple banshees. I saw Emile swearing as he hung haphazardly onto the side of the open pelican bay door. I tossed him a grenade launcher, which he took happily. He magnetized his boots, causing him to grip the pelican with sturdy footing and took aim at the quickly closing covenant patrol. A couple banshees escorted a phantom towards us, plasma firing all the way. I watched as Emile turned defiantly and blasted the lead bird with a grenade set to manual detonation. The short range EMP caused the banshee to lose power and spin out of control into its compatriot. Only the phantom remained.

I heard Auntie Dot incessantly drone on, "Noble 1, your alarming me, please heed my instructions." Carter shook his head, his face covered in blood, his armored charred. "Not sure how much longer she's going to hold together, covenant's too thick, I've got to get you two off the bird." I tried to protest but he shook his head, "Don't wanna hear it. You need to get that package to Keyes." I sighed, "Done." He shook his head, "Not yet it's not, you're going to have to jump." He paused as the craft descended, "Shadow… that A.I. chose you… she made the right choice."

Carter made a sharp turn, losing the tailing phantom. "On my mark." Carter said, raising his undamaged hand. I grabbed the A.I. off my back, where a special pocket held it securely. I enveloped it in a bear hug and watched as Emile grabbed a hanger on the ceiling. He put a hand on my shoulder, steadying me.

He counted down with his fingers. Three… two… one… "NOW!" Carter yelled. We jumped, sliding down a hill, our shields taking the brunt of the impact. I stood up and watched as Emile groaned. I inspected the A.I for damage, nothing was found. I sighed with relief as I placed it in my pocket. I looked up and saw Carter fly the burning craft overhead, the phantom finally finding it. The covenant drop ship gave chase. I followed Emile over to a small ridge overlooking a bridge. Covenant troops watched as Carter flew overhead, cheering smugly. Emile growled, "Let's get this over with." I nodded and pulled out a DMR. "I'll provide over-watch." He nodded and discarded a now empty grenade launcher before sliding down the slope, dual wielding his shotgun and assault file. I shot at a grunt, kicking off the assault. No matter how many covenant I dispatched, Emile got twice as many. It seemed that he was enveloped in a dark red aura that burned around him. I couldn't see unless I watched out of the corner of my eye, but I wasn't really watching, the covenant kept me busy.

I watched as Emile approached the last target, an elite minor. It shivered as it spotted him. In garbled language, it grumbled, "Pl-please my lord, spare me." 'My lord?' I thought, apparently Emile thought the same thing. He shook his head, "Flattery will not spare you, as you did not spare the billions of humans you and your covenant destroyed." Emile shot the elite point blank with the shotgun. He gestured wearily for me to follow. I rushed up to meet him. As I ran, banshees shot by, apparently the tables had turned. One by one they fell to the massive .50 caliber nose cannon, Carter hovered overhead.

"Noble. Up ahead is a massive covenant deployment center. Let me draw the heat. You have to get the package to Keyes." I shook my head; a covenant deployment center was where covenant used drop pods to deploy soldiers and equipment onto the ground. The spire we assaulted earlier this week was just a localized version, transporting equipment directly from the covenant cruiser. These deployment centers were certain to hold untold amounts of troops. We would need to stay low and move quickly. "I found us some transport." Emile called. A massive pavilion full of wreckage held a single serviceable vehicle. A U.N.S.C 4x 4 Mongooses ATV. The fastest land vehicle the U.N.S.C had at their disposal, these were used to carry troops and equipment short distances, most notably for setting up small outposts and flanking maneuvers.

Emile shook his head, "I'm not so good at driving these things, could you?" I nodded slightly, sliding onto the padded seat. I made sure the A.I was secure before taking off, Emile crouching of the cargo wrack fixed behind me. We sailed through a small cavern before reaching the sight. I shuddered at the sight. Over three thousand covenant troops stood in formation, with hundreds of wraiths, revenants and ghosts doing practice maneuvers. What chilled me the most were the covenant scarabs that strolled along the cliff side.

I floored it down the road, past covenant which immediately broke formation, sloppily shooting at us. I maneuvered along the road, winding haphazardly at every turn, weaving in and out of the way of covenant troops. Emile shoot desperately in all directions, trying to clear a path. Overhead, Carter was taking on the bulk of the covenant army, attempting to draw as much attention as possible. The sun setting sky was lit by millions of covenant drop pods, falling like shooting stars. A scarab made its way onto the road, plasma cannon quickly charging. One shot would've finished us if Carter hadn't shot at it, luring it away.

I passed through the distracted scarabs legs, veering a sharp right. "Shadow! Look out!" Emile yelled. I swerved left and right to avoid the blue plasma mortars. Apparently the wraiths weren't just for show. Up ahead, a stray mortar impacted what I thought was normal road, it crumbled and fell, revealing the remains of a reinforced bridge. "We're going to have to jump!" Emile yelled. I nodded, "Take the wheel." I spun around Emile, who vaulted into the front seat. He shook visibly. "Steady, hold it steady." I smashed the acceleration pedal, causing it to jam. I grabbed the A.I. The mongoose flew over the chasm, but the distance was too far, "Jump for it!" I yelled. Together, we pushed off the mongoose and dove to a stop, the remains of the mongoose spiraling into the void. The covenant were hot on our heels, I put the A.I back in my pocket and we ran down the road and into a tunnel.

The road ended in a rusty "Welcome to Aszod!" sign, I heard that before the U.N.S.C purchased the area, it had been a thriving tourist attraction. Now it was a graveyard for ships… and at this rate, us as well. The area was famous for its canyon trails, so we simply followed an old tourist map we had found on the ground next to the sign. With any luck, we would find a path that wasn't crawling with covenant. Carter came on over the mike, "N-Noble team." He didn't sound good. "Wha-whats your status?" Emile looked down before replying, voice heavy, "We're in the canyon tunnels, we're trying to find a way through the canyon range towards Keyes."

Carter went silent; I was worried something had happened until he spoke, "Keep your heads down, the scarab is looking for you." Carters voice was steely with determination. "Understood." I stated. We moved through the canyons, guns at the ready. A familiar buzzing sounded. Emile noticed it too, "You hear that?" I nodded, "Drones." I peered through the side around a corner in the cave we were walking through. A couple drones chattered in their native tongue, a series of clicks, chirps and buzzes filled the air.

There was sure to be more of them, I knew we had to take this cautiously, but that thought went out the window with Emile. Chucking a grenade, he yelled some sort of profanity before advancing down the hall. I shook my head before joining him. He advanced, not a care in the world, shotgun firing off against the now 75 strong drone force clawing, flying and screaming down the tunnel. I took the careful approach of taking my time and moving from cover to cover, but I digress, it was Emile's fight now. Pretty soon, the ground was stained with yellowish-greenish blood and charred corpses.

Emile didn't give notice. I shook my head once again and followed. We came across a massive clearing, the ceiling opening up overhead. The ground began to shake as the sick face of a scarab, most likely investigating the gunshots from Emile, came into view, growling. It's chin slowly turned green as it charged its plasma cannon, but the shot never came. Carter came into view overhead, chain-gun rattling. Emile stumbled backwards, "… Holy-!" He had a thought, "We can get past it sir!" Emile said, obviously not believing it. I could imagine Carter shaking his head, "No you can't… not without help." Emile shook his head, "Carter, you don't have the fire power."

A moment of silence came on over the radio, finally, Carter broke it, "I know… but I've got the mass." I gasped in understanding, "Carter… NO!" Emile watched with sadness as Carters last words came on over the radio, "Good luck gentlemen… from here on out, you're on your own. Carter… out." The pelican backed away from the Scarab before flooring it, the damaged plane smashing into the scarab. A massive explosion rang throughout the canyon, the crippled scarab screamed in pain before stumbling backwards, falling over a ridge and into an abyss. "NO!" Emile screamed, punching a nearby rock, which shattered on impact. I sighed before placing a comforting hand on Emile's shoulder, "There will be time to mourn later, right now, we need to follow his orders." Emile sat as a couple minutes ticked by. The sounds of drones buzzed throughout the cavern. I raised my rifle, scanning every possible target. Finally Emile's rose, "Crevice to the east… lets go."

We sprinted forwards; Emile seemed to know exactly where he was going, as if he could sense the surrounding earth with every footstep. We burst out onto a ridge overlooking a war zone. The remains of the U.N.S.C ship breaking yards had been turned into a warzone, remains of Grade A titanium provided cover for an advancing covenant army, which moved through the wreckage in every possible space. U.N.S.C marines were covering every choke point, machine gun turrets and snipers covering important chokepoints. Pelicans and Phantoms fought over head, the later attempting to drop troops behind our lines. A marines sniper spotted us and began to wave, "Spartans! Over here!" We slid down the reach and pushed our way through covenant cannon fodder, finally reaching us, she shook our hands, "Commander Keyes has been attempting to contact you."

A crackled voice came on over the radio, "Spartans… good to see you, we have enemy drop ships depositing troops along our lines, I need you to push through the lines they've established and clear the way for our marines to evacuate. We have an established take off time, there is no abort so make it snappy." I nodded, "Yes sir." "Pelicans will provide air support, good luck." Keyes informed. A marine approached us, "Sir, we have explosives set along the ridge, they'll cause a momentary barricade that will stop the covenant." I nodded, "How long?" I asked. "About an hour, give or take how they want to tackle the barricade." I nodded, "Send it, we need to push through covenant lines and rendezvous with the remains of your battalion." He nodded and pulled out a detonator.

A massive amount of debris fell into the chokepoint, burying covenant and blocking their access. Cries of anguish filled the dusty air. I fell into formation behind the marines, roughly 10 of them, with Emile at the point. We left our little parapet and proceeded into the main facility, a network of halls, storage sheds and corridors, with massive outdoor courtyards in between. As we came into range of the nearby entrance, a shot rang out; a pink crystal slammed into an unlucky soldier's head, killing him instantly. "Get down!" Emile yelled. We all dove for cover, hiding behind various rocky out cropping's and other bits of machinery. Jackals had taken position in a large watchtower overlooking our position.

I looked to the others for ideas; coming out in the open would get us all killed. I remembered what Keyes said, "Air support is available." I called out on the mike, "Any U.N.S.C air craft, this is Noble 6, I'm leading a group of marines into the main facility, we've been pinned down by enemy sniper fire with one K.I.A, requesting gun run on tower." Immediately a voice replied, "Noble 6, Pelican 3-2-2 responding to your request, laze the target." I pulled out a thin red laser, much like a laser pointer in a classroom. Pointing it at the jackals on the tower, I prayed the aircraft saw it. "Pelican 3-2-2 to Noble 6, we have your target. Engaging."

A pelican flew above the tower and proceeded to rain fire on it, bombarding it with heavy chain gun and rocket fire. Soon the tower collapsed on itself. The way was clear. "Noble 6 to Pelican 3-2-2, thanks for the hand, we're through." No acknowledgement was given; the pilot was probably on another air support mission somewhere else. I checked the fallen trooper for any signs of life. Nothing, not even a pulse. I shook my head and stood, "Let's keep going." The troopers nodded solemnly and moved in behind Emile.

"Surprise, Surprise." Emile muttered, "The doors sealed shut." I knocked on it, panicked cries of trapped grunts sounded from inside. I knew that the U.N.S.C controlled the majority of the base; they couldn't go in, or out. A demolisher marine stepped forwards, "I have just the thing." He pulled out a big rectangle and placed it on the door, C4 explosive with a sticky side. One of those could easily take down a wraith. We stacked up along the sides of the door and watched as the marine silently counted to three before triggering the device. The door imploded and flew backwards, hitting a couple grunts and the sheer volume of the explosion stunning the rest. Emile quickly finished the rest of them. I looked on inside and saw the smelting room, a repair and metal melting room, where titanium and other important metals were melted down and used for building new ships.

Multiple doorways came at all angles and a catwalk covered the ceiling. I heard a scrambled transmission over the radio, "***Bas***taken***Covenan***Retreat." I knew we had lost the facility. Another voice came on over the radio, "Noble 6, it's Keyes, we just lost the main building, I'm pulling our boys back. Listen, you'll have to make a defensive stand at your area for about 30 minutes, any sooner and local drop ships will shoot us down. I've ordered anyone trapped in the building to make their way towards you, call signs are Flash, counter is Thunder. Good luck son." I sighed, another complication.

I turned to the marines and Emile, "Bad news, we've got a bit of an issue, covenant just took the main building, we have no chance of pushing through, so Keyes has ordered a final stand, all remaining marines are ordered to make their way here, if you have an inkling of a doubt of whatever your shooting could be anything other than covenant, call out Flash, they say thunder, let them through, anything else, you light them up. We need to hold for ten minutes, any shorter, our rides get shot down, we'll be having to make our way up stairs for a five minute window, after that, you're stuck here."

I turned and looked around, roughly four floors, judging by the lack of communication and noise from above us meant that it was clear. Hopefully. I looked to Emile, "Can you hold out down here?" He nodded, "I'll need five of the marines." I nodded, "Everyone else with me, we'll head to the upper floors and see what we can do to provide over watch." I walked up the stairs, with four marines in tow. We reached the roof, ensuring myself that nothing was remaining on the upper floors covenant wise and checked the LZ, which would be on the upper floor. A machine gun nest overlooked the entrance we came out of.

"We'll use this as a fallback position, in that case, I want two of you guys manning that turret." They nodded and I began clearing rubble from the roof itself, roughly two football fields spread next to each other. We made our way downstairs to the second floor and looked out, I saw roughly sixty feet of courtyard surrounding our little tower, any moment now, those field would be full of covenant and fleeing U.N.S.C marines. A garbled voice, "Noble 6, marine squad foxtrot, we're coming in on your position. Counter, thunder." I nodded, "Understood," I turned and shouted downstairs, "Emile, we've got friendly in bound troops." I heard a shout of understanding in reply, "What's your squad size?" The voice quickly replied, "20 able bodied marines with 13 injured marines, whom are being carried to you position."

I sighed, the wounded would make this even more complicated, "Understood, the wounded will be placed on the third floor. Get here quickly, we're on a time limit." No response was given but I knew he had heard me, at times like these, every second counted.

A surprised shriek sounded off and 3 covenant patrols screamed in happiness. Covenant directly in front of us yelped and took cover, shooting randomly. The small confrontation soon turned into a full-blown firefight, with shots coming in and out from all directions. Soon we were surrounded from all directions. It was then, that the marines decided to appear. The Marines came out of a building on the right, using their knives to stealthily take down a pair of jackals standing directly in front of the entrance. They immediately assessed the situation and voiced their opinion on the radio, "Quite a party." I sighed, "Indeed. How do you want to approach this exactly?"

The leader, from what I could observe, was an elder marine, with slightly greying hair, he carried himself around proudly and confidently, experiance clearly showing in his eyes. "If you can provide covering fire, we'll be there in under ten minutes, provided we can get the injured out of here on schedule."

I smiled, it was a good plan, "Understood." I turned towards the stairs, "Everyone, marines are here, we need to help them inside, I want suppressive fire in every direction, don't let any of those freaks even breath. All right?" The marines shouted in response. I keyed back into the radio, "Whenever you're ready." The marines inside our building immediately launched a crescendo rivaling anything Zeus could do. Streams of fire erupted towards the covenant troops, any covenant that weren't behind cover were cut down. Bullets chipped away at the rocky outcrops that the covenant were hiding behind, the covenant weren't coming out to play.

The marines outside were pitching in, those that weren't attempting to haul wounded into the building were strafing and firing, mounting and maintaining the pressure on the covenant. However, this suppression wouldn't last long, sadly we hadn't mastered the art of unlimited ammunition. Thankfully everyone made it inside the building before that sad fact caught up to us. Everyone took turns reloading before we once again re-entered a firefight. Multiple marines took up positions on the lower floors, holding back covenant while others helped set up barricades. The elder marine came up the stairs, "Glad to see you Spartan, at your service." I nodded, "Get the wounded marines on the third floor, we've got evac coming soon." He nodded in response.

Soon we entered a rhythm, a deadly dance ever so famous, involving humans and covenant. Fire, reload, fire, reload, we knew what we were doing, minutes felt like seconds and in no time we had evacuation on the roof. A pelican was waiting. I called downstairs, "Evacs here, I need people to carry the wounded upstairs." Immediately seven marines barreled upstairs and began picking up wounded patriots, dropping them gently in the pelican. By the time I had finished off the task of calling out to the marines downstairs, the pelican was close to being fully loaded. I ran downstairs, only to see marines stumble blindly firing behind them, one screamed, "THEIR IN THE BUILDING!" I jumped downstairs, falling three stories before smashing into the ground, the concrete shattering beneath me.

I whirled around and watched as a marine was pinned beneath rubble. Emile tossed the rubble aside and slung the guy over his shoulder, hand holding him steady. I saw two other marines; I draped them over my shoulders like two sacks of flour. I turned and saw Emile pull out his shotgun, choosing to go one handed. "Let's roll." He sighed. I nodded, this situation needed no words. He spun and swung his shotgun, nailing the bolt holding it in place. Steadying it in the crook of his arm, he pumped it one handed and kicked in the door, blasting down a grunt who had somehow found another entrance. Then and there, Hades broke lose.

Covenant swarmed the building. I sprinted up the stairs, trusting that Emile could clear the way fast enough to keep ahead of the covenant behind us. Emile was a demon, spinning his gun rapidly like a baton, firing in every direction. Grunts and jackals were flung limply out of windows, Emile managing to literally take on the covenant with one hand tied behind his back. I shook my head; glad he's on my side. We quickly ascended the final stairwell, only to be meet by the elderly marine. He smiled and saluted before suppressing the covenant using the turret behind us.

We unloaded the last marines before turning to the pilot, "I can't take any more weight, this is pushing it as it is!" I sighed and grabbed the elderly marine, tossing him in, he didn't come quietly. I waved the pilot off and watched as they flew away. I looked at Emile and sighed. "Too much weight?" He guessed. I nodded, fully knowing we had to get out of here. Rumbling shook the building below us as a swarm of some of the most dangerous soldiers in the galaxy made their way to us, eager to draw blood. There were too many of them, it was impossible to fight them off. We would have to run.

I looked around, desperately hoping for somewhere we could go, just to buy us the time we would need to call in evacuation. I spotted a nearby rooftop. I smiled, I had a plan, it was insane, but there were no other options. I turned back, Emile shaking as he turned towards the door behind us. I tapped him on the shoulder, "Follow me. Try to keep up, don't stop for anything." He nodded uncertainly. I sprinted towards the roof, not even pausing to look at the gap below me. I jumped, spanning the 8 foot gap in a matter of seconds, somersaulting into the landing before taking off. I briefly looked back at Emile, who simply shook his head and began to run, sluggishly copying my movements. The covenant burst through the entrance, some zealous brute tossing grunts of the building in order to reach us first.

I saw my armor flicker, but the covenant didn't pursue, a frustrated growl resounded around the shipyard. I didn't turn back; I just kept running, vaulting over piles of debris, sliding under archways, moving as fluently as I possibly could. I didn't give it much thought at the time, but I could've sworn Emile would run into a shadow, only to reappear a few feet away. I shook my head, running for your life often causes illusions. We eventually skidded to a stop, not even realizing we had sprinted close to four miles. I knelt, slightly panting, Emile finally caught up before clutching his stomach. He bent over but managed to keep his stomach.

After a couple minutes of silence, Emile finally piped up, "Do-Do you think-We-lost them?" A frail scream sounded close behind and I peeked over the piece of rubble I had decided to use a backrest. Seven skirmishers were closing quickly, vaulting over objects effortlessly, jumping 15 foot gaps with ease. I shook my head, "Come on, we can't stop now." I pulled Emile to his feet and, knowing we weren't in any shape ready to fight off covenant, continued our hasty pace with renewed vigor. Eventually we reached a sloping hillside, leading down to The Pillar of Autumn itself. The skirmishers weren't anywhere to be seen, so we took a moment to assess the situation. The Pillar of Autumn was in its final loading stages, with massive fueling stations hooked up on all sides. Special yellow apparatus were being attached to the sides of the ship, which would assist with take-off. The ship itself was shaped like a barrel, and with the marines defending it, it took the words, "like fish in a barrel," a little too literally. The marines were making a final stand, sealing entrances with rubble and running into the ship. The make shift anti-air defenses of the ship were in over drive, killing of banshees while covering the pelicans that were ferrying wounded to the hangers of the ship itself.

I watched as a pelican came into view, the same on that had evacuated the marines from our earlier predicament, "Noble 6, I've spotted you. Thank God. Marking a landing point now." A small dot appeared on my heads up display, at the bottom of the structure we were sitting on. At an almost vertical angle, we would have to navigate this precarious structure perfectly. There would be no second chances. A shriek of glee sounded behind us. Emile ran down the hill, I quickly followed, both of us without any hesitation. The skirmishers were gaining fast, but at this rate, we were too focused on not smashing into debris that littered this Cliffside while running at close to 75 miles per hour. That would probably hurt.

I vaulted over debris, using momentum to catapult myself over a massive abyss. A hand caught me midflight; I turned and came face to face with the bony beak of a skirmisher. Without hesitation, I spun and brought a hammer arm down on its face, smashing its head in and causing it to fall into the abyss. I landed on my side and pencil rolled to a stop, sliding under another arch way. I heard a struggle followed by a blast somewhere over to my left, Emile was experiencing similar problems. The remaining skirmishers were gaining; they were in their element. We were toast. My thoughts were interrupted by the roar of our pelican-flying overhead. The loading hatch f the passenger bay opened, revealing a marine manning a swing out turret. He open fired, and not a second to soon, I could almost feel the skirmishers breathing down my neck. Emile made it to the LZ before I did, how was unknown to me.

He jumped into the pelican. I however, was too late, it was a trick. The covenant had an ambush set for this area, blue plasma mortars rained down overhead, blasting buildings and tool sheds apart. Emile waved frantically for me to enter, but I was to slow, the pilot had no choice but to take off. I watched it ascend, the pilot was quick to respond, "Listen here, your friends yelling at me, so I've got no choice, get to the rooftops and hurry, I've got to help the final evacuation, and that ambush was not in the agenda." I wasted no time with replies, quickly scaling a wall, getting a running start and kicking up, scrambling to the top. Multiple staircases lead even higher, in this situation, elevation was my friend. I moved quickly, turning around stairs and hoping I was going in the right direction. I finally reached the top, Quickly sprinting across the rooftops. The pelican hovered at a small ledge, a 12 foot gap with no chance of getting closer, I knew he was already sticking out his neck, I could only do one thing.

With second thoughts, I jumped. I came within inches of the ship before I fell, fast. I thought I was going to end up splattering all over the floor, but something stopped me, Emile wasn't letting go of me that easily. Emile grabbed me by the elbow and hauled me up, sliding me into a seat as soon as the drop ship accelerated. Eventually we stopped, I wasn't sure what was going on until we hovered and came to a stop over a landing pad. I watched as the ground shook, as a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon or MAC, fired, taking out a banshee keen on wiping us out. Marines spilled out of an open gate and I watched as Emile pushed past them, yelling, "Is that everyone?!"

A marine had the courtesy of answering, "Yes sir, but we need someone to man the MAC, it's the only thing keeping us alive." I only registered those words later, but at the time, I knew, someone would be left behind. A sacrifice had to be made. Suddenly, a pelican near us exploded, as a Phantom came into view, its main cannon firing. Pieces of debris surrounded me, but I was too concerned with getting everyone on board. A man patted me on the shoulder, he wasn't a marine. The man was in a bright white uniform, a small emblem of 4 silver stars sat proudly on his chest. Commander Keyes. The man smiled, "Son, it's time to go." I nodded and looked around, panic surged up inside me, "Where's Emile?" The man shook his head, "He's gone, manning the MAC. I'm sorry, but we have to-" I was having nothing of that, "I'm not leaving him." I handed him the A.I and turned towards the MAC gun. Something made me pause.

A phantom hovered over the gun, purple creatures jumped out of the sides. Zealots. I watched helplessly as they ascended the stairs, intent showing in their eyes. "Emile!" I yelled and watched in horror as one reached the top, only to have it's head blown off by Emile's shotgun. I growled as he stood up, screaming, "WHO'S NEXT?!" A Zealot jumped behind him, as time seemed to slow down. Emile turned. The energy sword ignited. Emile's shotgun was slowly raised. The sword penetrated, the Zealot screaming in pleasure as it lifted him up, Emile's limp body hanging off the sword like some sort of sick trophy. Emile struggling to face the creature, before weakly pulling out his knife, jamming it in the creature's eye. He cried out to the skies, "I'm ready! How bought you?!" Using the last once of strength he had, he pulled himself and the elite over the edge, falling 5 stories before landing with a sickening crunch. Right then and there, something broke. I had lost everything, first Jorge, than Kat, June, Carter, Emile. I had lost all my friends, all my family at Camp Half-blood. I had lost her.

I yelled as I sprinted away, shaking off the marines who were trying to hold me back, like flies. "Noble 6, if you go now, you will not live to see tomorrow." Keyes voice rang out. I stopped, slowly turning, "I don't care." I whirled around and pounded up the stairs, kicking down a makeshift barricade. I quickly ascended through the building; it was like a ghost town. The final hanger pad, where the MAC was stationed, was straight ahead. I stormed ahead, straight ahead, right towards the shocked two zealots. They fumbled with their swords, but I was already moving, I snatched the energy sword out of the first elites hand, ignited it, before swinging it, causing the zealot to stumble back as the creature attempted to avoid the slice.

Not even sparing it any attention, I moved to the next one, slicing at its sword hand. The sword went flying, I caught and deftly sliced in its direction, leaving thick gashes along its side. It died quickly, but that didn't concern me. I turned to see the first elite; which was now fully realizing it was un-armed. It attempted to run, but I threw one of my swords with deadly precision, hitting it square between the shoulders. The thing fell in a heap. I faintly heard a voice in my ear, "Young man, if you can hear me, I need you to man the MAC, it's the only way we're going to make orbit. Hundreds of lives are counting on you. Good luck."

I slowly made my way to the cannon, climbing the ladder until I reached the top. I swiveled the massive cannon and watched as a corvette made it's way over the Pillar of Autumn. It slowly began to charge its glassing cannon, bent on annihilating the ship. I watched as drop ships and banshees made their way to the fueling reserves, aiming to cause crippling explosions. Not if I could help it. I pulled the fire trigger and felt a massive explosion, worthy of an earthquake, shake beneath me and watched as the round spliced through three drop ships like a knife through butter. I kept firing, aiming for the ships, while keeping my eye on the slowly encroaching corvette. I was waiting for it to lower its shields, a requirement of firing the main glassing cannon.

It finally reached the point of glassing, it's hexagon like shields slowly appearing, than dissolving. The cannon glowed red, than pink. It was almost ready to fire. With careful aim, knowing I only had time for one shot, I hit the corvette just as the Pillar of Autumn took off. Explosions shook the corvette, with fires breaking out along its sides. The ship eventually disappeared in a fiery rainbow of color. I watched with sadness as The Pillar of Autumn took off, it's yellow guiding ports expelling massive amounts of fire before detaching and falling to the ground. The ship quickly ascended, reaching atmosphere in seconds. I shook my head. I was done, good as dead.

This was the end.

Luke/Carter's/ Noble 1 POV

Cracking, fire, overwhelming sounds, white light. Then… nothing. I awoke to face of the creator, someone who at times, drove me quite literally, over the edge. "Have a nice nap?" He smiled. I swung a punch, but it was sluggish and halfhearted, it didn't even reach his face. I accepted his outstretched hand and pulled myself up, realizing that I was still in my armor. I looked around me, surveying my surroundings, just as I had before. The viewing spire, the bookshelves, the empty pizza boxes. Chaos's room. I sighed, "What happened?" He smiled, "You sacrificed yourself for a greater good, therefore completing your rite of passage, just as I knew you would." I shook my head, "You planned for me to crash into a scarab?" He nodded, smiling like it was the best thing that had ever happened, "And now, there's nothing stopping you from becoming a member of my ruling council, the council of six."

I sighed, "The what?" He grinned, "My military needs a leader, and you fit the bill, allow me the use of some of your time to introduce you to you fellow generals." We watched as the faces of former friends and allies entered the room. A man, mid twenties, with dreadlocks and a slight stubble, had his arm wrapped around the waist of a slim young lady with blonde curls, a young lady with the looks of a Persian princess, with a girl with pale skin and black hair falling to her shoulders walked together. They all seemed to be laughing at something the man was saying, even the princess, who seemed to be uptight, was chuckling under her breath. They all turned and smiled at Chaos, not noticing I was there. Chaos grinned, "They can't see you yet." I nodded and gave myself the moment to remember the names.

Some of these faces had haunted me ever since I sided with Chaos. Charles Beckendorf. One of my closest friends, turned worst enemy. Silena Beauregard. A woman I was in-directly responsible for the death of. The huntress I couldn't remember the name of, but she seemed familiar. The final girl looked up at me. I had never seen her before, but she looked perfect in every way. She walked, spoke and held herself in every way that resembled Kat. Kat. I missed her, forgetting the covenant war and everything, we could have been so much more.

I snuck up behind her, Beckendorf looked towards her and smiled, "So Bianca, how's Da Vinci doing?" She smiled, "He's good, we're working on some sort of prototype of a weapon system, apparently it mounts on you arm, he's been so secretive about it, so I don't know much but I'm seeing some heavy firepower being crammed in his workshop, so it's got to be something special." Beckendorf nodded. Wow, she even sounded like Kat.

Chaos clapped, meriting everyone's attention. He began to speak, smooth as silk yet firm as stone, "Today, today is a day in history that won't ever be forgotten. Today, the council of 6 has come together. Today, we begin to strike for justice, today, we aren't just in history, we _are_ history. The final pieces are coming into place, with our final members coming into play. Today, we are united under one banner, today, we are family." My former friends nodded and turned to the viewing spire; we watched today's events play out. I watched as June died, which brought on tears to me, but I held them back, the time for grieving wasn't here. I watched as Shadow and Emile jumped out of the pelican, I watched as they made their way across bridges, through tunnels, all the while surrounded by enemies. I watched my death, my sacrifice.

I watched as Emile and Shadow navigated their way through the mess that was the evacuation to the Pillar of Autumn. I watched as they ran along the rooftops, as they barely evacuated. As Emile was mercilessly butchered from behind. As Shadow finally fought of the covenant air force and cleared the way for The Pillar of Autumn. As he began to brace himself. It slowly came to a stop, pausing as it showed a somber image of Shadow, leaning against a railing, watching banshees gracefully float through the sky.

Chaos sighed, "I called you all here, to meet your final members of the order. I want you to welcome Emile." A shadowy presence entered the room, only to reveal a startled Emile. He whirled around the room, knife still out. I watched as he visibly relaxed looking to Chaos, not even noticing the others. "Chaos? But… what's going on?" Chaos tried a smile, "You've passed your rite of passage. We've been expecting you. Welcome home."

At this, Emile looked around the room, noticing the others. He visibly shook after seeing the girl, Bianca, who seemed small compared to the massive size of the man in armor. "Bianca." He whispered. He lunged forwards, pulling the surprised girl into a hug. I watched as he gently pushed her away and removed his helmet, the skull shaped design clattering to the floor. A pale face, with an identical shade of black hair covering his head. He looked at her and I watched as tears covered both the faces, "Nico." Bianca whispered. They hugged even tighter, until Chaos cleared his throat, "There's one more member to introduce at the moment. And no matter what your current feelings are to his presence, I want no irrational actions."

I felt a solidifying feeling as I returned to the physical world, standing still and not moving at all. I looked around as I saw their surprised expressions. Beckendorf recovered first, "Well, this is a surprise. Welcome to the void, sir." I shook my head, "I-I don't deserve to be called." Beckendorf shook his head, "What, no way, you've lead us into countless battles, you have every right to have our respe-" I wrenched off my helmet, throwing it on the ground. Beckendorf immediately stopped speaking, shock evident on the faces of everyone in the room. Silena spoke first, betrayal clear in every expression, malice in every word, "Chaos. What is this? Some kind of sick joke?" Chaos shook his head, "Everyone. I need to show you something." Everyone silently walked over to the viewing spire once more, silence filling the room.

I looked over Chaos's shoulder, as there was no space, watching a seen I had never seen before. My sacrifice to save Olympus. "My knife." A young girl with blonde hair,Annabeth tried to raise her dagger, but it clattered out of her hand. Her arm was bent at a funny angle. She looked at a man with familiar black hair, "Percy, please…"

Percy surged forward and scooped up her knife, knocking a sword out of Luke's… my hands, spinning it into the hearth that sat in the middle of the great Olympian halls. I hardly paid the event any attention. I stepped toward Annabeth, but Percy put himself between me and her.

"Don't touch her," Percy growled.

Anger rippled across my face. Kronos's voice growled: "Jackson…" his whole body glowed, turning gold.

I gasped again. my voice won out "He's changing. Help. He's… he's almost ready. He won't need my body anymore. Please-"

"NO!" Kronos bellowed. He looked around for my sword, but it was in the hearth, glowing among the coals.

He stumbled toward it. Percy tried to stop him, but he pushed the boy out of the way with such force he landed next to Annabeth and cracked his head on the base of Athena's throne.

"The knife, Percy," Annabeth muttered. Her breath was shallow. "Hero… cursed blade…"

Kronos grasped his sword. Then he bellowed in pain and dropped it. His hands were smoking and seared. The hearth fire had grown red-hot, like the scythe wasn't compatible with it. There was an image of Hestia flickering in the ashes, frowning at Kronos with disapproval.

I turned and collapsed, clutching his ruined hands. "Please, Percy…"

Percy struggled to his feet. He moved towards me with the knife.

I moistened his lips. "You can't… can't do it yourself. He'll break my control. He'll defend himself. Only my hand. I know where. I can… can keep him controlled."

I was definitely glowing now, his skin starting to smoke.

Percy raised the knife to strike. Then he looked at Annabeth, at some satyr, Grover, cradling her in his arms, trying to shield her. Understanding occurred on his face. "Please," I groaned. "No time."

If Kronos evolved into his true form, there would be no stopping him. He would make Typhon look like a playground bully.

The whole world tipped upside down, and Percy gave the knife to me.

Grover yelped. "Percy? Are you… um…"

We watched as I grasped the hilt.

Percy stood before me – defenseless.

I unlatched the side straps of his armor, exposing a small bit of my skin just under my left arm, a place that would be very hard to hit. With difficulty, I stabbed myself.

It wasn't a deep cut, but I howled.

My eyes glowed like lava. The throne room shook, throwing Percy off his feet. An aura of energy surrounded me, growing brighter and brighter.

It was silent for a long time.

I saw myself sprawled at the hearth. On the floor around me was a blackened circle of ash.

Kronos's scythe had liquefied into molten metal and was trickling into the coals of the hearth, which now glowed like a blacksmith's furnace.

My left side was bloody. My eyes were open – blue eyes, the way they should to be. My breath was a deep rattle.

"Good… blade," I croaked.

Percy knelt next to my. Annabeth limped over with Grover's support. They both had tears in their eyes.

I gazed at Annabeth. "You knew. I almost killed you, but you knew…"

"Shhh." Her voice trembled. "You were a hero at the end, Luke. You'll go to Elysium."

I shook his head weakly. "Think… rebirth. Try for three times. Isles of the Blest." I smiled, if only I knew.

Annabeth sniffled. "You always pushed yourself too hard."

I held up his charred hand. Annabeth touched my fingertips.

"Did you…" I coughed and my lips glistened red. "Did you love me?"

Annabeth wiped her tears away. "There was a time I thought… well, I thought…" She looked at Percy, like she was drinking in the fact that he was still there.

"You were like a brother to me, Luke," she said softly. "But I didn't love you."

I nodded, I expected that answer. I winced in pain.

"We can get ambrosia," Grover said. "We can-"

"Grover," I gulped. "You're the bravest satyr I ever knew. But no. There's no healing…" Another cough. I gripped Percy's sleeve. "Ethan. Me. All the unclaimed. Don't let it… Don't let it happen again."

My eyes were angry, but pleading too.

"I won't," Percy said. "I promise."

I nodded, and my hand went slack.

The gods arrived a few minutes later in their full war regalia, thundering into the throne room and expecting a battle.

What they found were Annabeth, Grover, and Percy standing over the body of my broken body, in the dim warm light of the hearth.

"Percy," Poseidon called, awe in his voice. "What… what is this?"

Percy slowly turned and faced the Olympians.

"We need a shroud," he announced, his voice cracking. "A shroud for the son of Hermes."

The room was silent, than, Beckendorf moved around the table, Silena following. "Luke." He rumbled. I nodded, "I'm sorry. I was a troubled person. But I'm, I'm good now. I'm serving Chaos, I want to make amends, and while there's little I can do to make up for what I've done, I'll never stop trying." Beckendorf sighed, before giving a strained smile; "I'll hold you to that." I smiled, also a bit strained, "Can you forgive me?" He sighed and looked a Silena, than everyone else, "Not yet. It's to soon. But, and I think I speak for everyone in this matter, I'm willing to give you a second chance." Everyone nodded, except Silena.

I turned towards her, before looking down. She walked towards me, before coming to a stop. A massive snap followed by shouts of surprise filled the room. My head stung, as I realized what had just happened, but I knew in every way that I had deserved that. She growled, "I'll give you a second chance, but if you ever do anything like that again, I'll castrate you. Are we clear?" I hastily nodded before standing up, rubbing the back of my head. Chaos raised a hand and the room was quiet once more. "We must speak of our final member." I drew near, settling between Bianca and Beckendorf, as they were the only ones who weren't completely against my presence at the moment. Bianca leaned over, "I'm not happy right now, but I'm willing to give you a chance. For the sake of our relationship during our rites of passage, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. Don't mess up." I nodded.

Chaos sighed, "Our final member is designated to be the king piece, my most important soldier. He is my son." Gasps broke out, myself included. "His real name was σωτήρας, but all of you know him by one name. Perseus Jackson. I need to tell you his story, his full story." Everyone looked intrigued, as Chaos began to speak. "Long ago, not long after my creation of Gaea, I knew that she would one day turn evil. Little did I know that she would create a monster, one even worse that herself. She created Tartarus. A beast so powerful and so horrific that world shook whenever people spoke his name. Locked beneath the surface of the earth, he has always struggled to free himself. Today, he has."

He let that sink in. I shook my head, "Another war?" He nodded, "Knowing the earth couldn't fight Tartarus alone, I created a being, unknown to man kind, dear Perseus was born. I've kept him secret, willing everything into making him an being of perfection, of purity and honor, with a undying sense of friendship and family. I knew that one day, Perseus would fight against Tartarus, but he couldn't do it alone, hence your current standing." We all nodded.

"While I was working, I realized something, Percy was without something, he didn't have any form of emotion. He was, who should we say, a robot, serving me monotonously. Against the wishes of my former "advisor," I sent him to earth, to be reborn. I allowed him to go into existence under the watchful eye of my most faithful citizen, μητέρα, otherwise known as Sally Jackson. She just needed an, adoptive, father, to help form Perseus. She quickly caught the eye of Poseidon, and together they had Perseus."

"Most of you have probably met him, as you know, but after his services in the war with Gaea's other creations, the giants, he faced a terrible predicament. He "had it all," so to speak. The perfect life, always winning, lots of friends, loving family, the girl. Speaking of which, to help with Perseus's journey to develop his emotions, I created another being, a counterpart that embodied his perfect other. Annabeth Chase." I sighed, "Don't rub it in." Chaos grinned and that comment did earn a few chuckles, something told me that there was the possibility of making amends.

"As always, jealousy came into the situation. A boy named Wesbrook van Inwegen. A snob of a boy, born of Zeus, he embodied everything impure about the human race. And he had everything that rightfully belonged to Perseus in his sights. The boy entered camp and quickly used devious acts to dishonor my son, blaming vile deeds on his innocent head. He slayed pathetic monsters and by far over exaggerated the details, allowing the idea that he was a "real warrior," to spread around your community. Zeus's personal involvement further fueled his ego. All the while, Perseus fought to defend his reputation, along with his closest friends." He turned to Nico and smiled slightly.

"But it was for nothing, even while having the backing of Camp Jupiter and his friends, there was nothing to be done. But his most prominent supporter was Nico." Everyone turned to Nico, who looked like he was dreading where this was going. "Wesbrook knew that Perseus would hold on for three things, his mother and her husband Paul, and his "father" Poseidon, Nico and finally, Annabeth. But Wesbrook wasn't perturbed. He killed Sally and Paul, along with their daughter, and while their safely residing within the limits of the Void, it was a great blow. With all the "deeds" Perseus did, Poseidon thought it best to simply disown Perseus. The next thing the boy did, was steal Annabeth." Everyone looked around, not really thinking Annabeth would ever turn down Percy, Chaos had said they were made for each other.

"Even today, I'm still uncertain about how he did it, Annabeth did not go quietly, one night she hated him, the next she became his personal toy. I've deduced some sort of drug was slipped into her, but I'm not yet certain. All that was left for Percy to hold onto, was his "brother," but it was not to last. Wesbrook murdered Nico." The room was silent, before quickly being met with outburst, mostly from Bianca, "What? Where is this scum? We must avenge this act." Chaos sighed, "I agree, action must be taken to seek justice, but now is not the time." Everyone reluctantly stopped their promises of revenge, before fixing Nico with looks of pity. Nico looked away, "I don't want pity, but I'm willing to wait to get my chance for revenge."

I nodded; it seemed to be an acceptable answer. Chaos cleared his throat, may I finish?" We all nodded, Chaos continued, "For Perseus this was the final straw. He ran away, living in the wilderness for weeks. Monsters attacked, and it was clear that Percy couldn't survive any longer. Not due to the fact that he was malnourished, but due to the fact that everything that mattered to him was gone. Nothing fueled him anymore. I finally stepped in and after years of training, he began his rite of passage, just like all of you."

I nodded, the girl, Zoe I think, piped up, "While that may be true, my lord, where is Perseus now?" Chaos smiled, "Why my dear, I think that would be obvious right now, he's the last member of Noble team that is still standing." Shadow? Perseus? No way. Chaos raised a hand for silence, "It may be hard to believe, but over the time you've been together, you've trained, fought and survived one of the most powerful forces in the universe and have all come to trust each other, for the most part. And now, it's time to come together, to fight for an eternity of peace."

We all nodded, before turning to Perseus, who stood boldly against the swarm of covenant that were sure to come.

A.N. Lots of stuff had come up recently, combine that with a super long chapter and you've got a long update time. But all's well ends well, I suppose. You've got an extremely long chapter; I've got a trip to San Francisco to look forward to.


	13. Lone Wolf

**Into the Dark and Forward unto Dawn Ch 13**

A.N. Well. This is it, final chapter. I've got two special ideas to introduce. If I can exceed 50 reviews in this story, shouldn't be hard considering I've go over 6000 readers (I nearly screamed when I saw that on my account), I'm willing to post a little snippet of the next book before I make the real book. My second idea, while the sequel officially airs sometime in July, if you ask nicely, I'm willing to make a bunch of one shots that reflect on the free time Percy, Luke, Bianca, Zoe, Nico, Beckendorf and Silena have between now and the next book, hope you guys know that the amount of support you've given me means a lot. I'll never be able to describe it in words. Thank you.

Reviews:

WingGundamZero98: I think this chapter answers the question of what Percy's about to face. When I had updated this chapter, it was close to 10 at night. I hadn't had much to eat, so after posting it, I decided to head downstairs and make myself a peanut butter sandwich with a glass of chocolate milk. I did it quickly and while it was about ten minutes, it felt like two, I said goodnight to my parents and went back upstairs to check my story, to make sure I had posted the right chapter. I didn't think I would have a review already, so you could imagine my surprise when I saw that the 36 reviews had changed to 37. I nearly spat out my chocolate milk. Wow, a review already? Cool! I want to say thanks, for letting me sleep with the thought that I had made a semi decent chapter that wasn't going to be ridiculed.

aeisir21: hope you enjoy this showdown, it's quite a smack down, hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you did with the other one.

MICROWAVEDHEDGEHOG: Thanks for the comment on my righting; I try to come at the plot from all directions, introducing new concepts and characters while maintaining the other concepts I've established. Hope you like this final chapter, tune in to the sequel if you can, I hope I'm doing the right thing by ending it here and starting the next book in July.

Steve the legend: I shall continue to keep writing "awesome" stories, close to 4-5 books of just this series. Thanks, I like hearing praise, it motivates me to write faster.

ShadowOfTheSpartans: I loved your review, I had to show my friends, who felt envious about having such a passionate reader, sorry but there's no brute shot… not yet. I've seen the Haloid, but I've got a specific layout for this chapter.

Matt7826: Thanks for your interest in the story, I appreciate it, I love it when readers spare a couple seconds to give me advice for the story, it helps make my writing better.

Matt.1717: wow, 104 degrees, man that's a little hot for me, I love the cold, but I have to agree, I'm an east coast resident, through and through, I don't think I could live in the west coast for long.

Thefanfictionfollower: UPDATE! Yeah, I thought I should update, my Dad's very insistent that the entire family fly out to Nebraska this week in order to go to his high school reunion, it's now or never! Sadly, this is the only Halo crossover in the series, sorry, but hey, the rest of the series will have element of the first book, starting with the fact that everyone will remain Spartan, meaning a little butt kicking back on earth. The rest of the series will be solely Percy Jackson based, although I might add a bit of Assassins creed character design for Percy mixed with some Sherlock Holmes action on Percy's behalf. Thanks for the praise, it means a lot.

Just to make this clear, I won't state the names of people who have favorite or followed the story due to privacy, some of you may like the story but don't want to openly share it with others, sort of like a guilty pleasure. I'm cool with that, what you do when it comes to reading my story is entirely up to you, thank you.

Just a heads up, The sequel, The Great divide, is going to be updated in about a month, I'm going to chillax, I'm still not on summer break, I'm getting out on July 3rd, so don't expect an instant update.

If anyone's lost about something, contact me in a review of PM, I'll answer through my profile or respond through PM, thanks for the support guys, you've made my first story on this site a memorable one.

Chapter 13: Lone wolf

Percy/ Shadow/ Noble 6 POV

Time… A funny concept, invented by mankind as a form of measurement. Years have been spent; lives have been wasted, all in the name of time. Many believe that you can fight time, beat the clock. But one by one, they too fall as age and disease lead them to their inevitable deaths. Even immortals fall victim to it, living in the past and believing that even in the modern age, that it is they who rule. Those who fall to curse of immortality succumb to the will of the fates, either happiness with those they cherish or they're death.

Physically, death is impossible; an immortal will live forever, trapped in an endless thread of repetition, fighting the same threats as they struggle to rise again. And yet, the being can easily fall to outside sources, alcohol, addiction, terrible things as they attempt to find purpose. The curse of immortality is the lack of purpose.

The idea of a good and evil, a black and white, is false. History is written by the victor, if your enemy lives, and you die, his truth will become written, while yours is lost. This saying was my downfall. I didn't die; I simply lost what I lived for. The love of my life, my soul, betrayed me for another. And as I left, my story was lost, and his fabrication became legend.

My death was different from other immortals, we share but one thing in common, we can never die physically. If they say otherwise, they deceive themselves. While Aphrodite may fall to changing times as love is replaced by lust while Hephaestus falls as the forge is replaced by the factory, I met my downfall in a different way. My, for a lack of a better word, everything was taken away. Everything else became meaningless as the one I loved, slipped away. I became a shadow… in everything. I was named after the dark as my life faded from memory.

I died inside… I cracked. I can feel my sanity slipping away, just like _her_. I no longer know what is right and wrong. All I know is that everything I loved is gone. I'm now familiar in the realm of insanity. My newfound powers are not helping. My father saved my body, but no one, not even the creator of the universe, could save my mind, nothing short of my love. I now know that many of my primordial brothers and sisters have entered the blissful realm of the faded, where one can truly feel at peace. I was so close to feeling that peace, but it's blown away on the wind. Nyx is gone, along with her husband Erebus. I wish I could have met her. The Primordials of time and destiny, Chronus and Anake, have also faded. And left my father to pick up the pieces.

I watched as my powers grew, as their domains became my own. I had all their powers, and I was miserable, I had lost my way.

Explosions and cries of anger sounded in the distance as I stood from my meditative position. So they want their "Gods?" Then they will fear they're wrath. The loss of my short term family, Noble team, fueled me into my new situation. I would make a stand against this army, and I would not stop until every last covenant worm had breathed their last. I growled as the knowledge of the powers of my newest domains fueled me, as my body struggled to maintain it's "balance." I have resided into a mortal body, knowing that I would have to die to leave it. This struggle has fueled my feeble attempt at survival. I was broken, nothing mattered anymore, nothing except the wishes of my father. I am now a servant, obeying his will.

A sound like thunder followed by an explosion in the distance, the covenant had arrived. I watched as an explosion of blue tore the nearby mountainside in two. It was almost two miles away, but I could see the sweaty faces of the covenant, their ugly faces showing relief. Heat rose off the ground as the blue sky filled with dust, the clouds black as the air turned red. While a mirage blurred their features, I knew they smelt blood. A harsh, guttural war call filled the air as the covenant formed sloppy ranks. A covenant army of about one thousand led the way, with wraiths and ghosts flanking and bringing up the rear. I shook my head as two scarabs climbed over the rubble of the mountainside.

I sighed; this situation was in many ways, hopeless. I had no more ammunition; the energy swords I had scavenged off the zealots seemed to have lost charge and the MAC cannon shut off shortly after I made sure The Pillar of Autumn made orbit. But hopelessness is just an illusion, I've been through so many hopeless situations that I'm used to them now.

I don't know why, but something snapped. The gravity of the situation, not mine, but the fate of humanity as a whole, finally hit me. This was my species destruction, a group of overzealous aliens who thought we were simply rats in their cupboard. That they've been attacking us for no reason and prompted the destruction of billions of planets and countless humans, the destruction of our society. No matter how terrible our society was, the ones you loved kept you sane. While this wasn't the case for me, this war had disrupted countless families, including the one that I had called Noble team.

Anger filled my body as I felt myself change. Pure anger coursed through me as irrational thought filled me. I couldn't tell what was right or wrong anymore. I struggled to keep this monster contained… until I saw the covenant general leading his army. Around the elites waist were the helmets of Spartans. Spartans… humans taken from their lives unwillingly at a young age, conscripted into the military, trained maliciously into being the perfect killing machines, than thrown against the covenant like cannon fodder, only to be cut down in moments against massive armies.

With a feral scream to the wind, I let go. Red light filled every corner of my vision as I suddenly saw things from a different point of view. I watched my body fall to my knees as everything there simply disappeared, until only a Shadow remained. Red eyes glared back at me before turning to the army. The general, vain but experienced, ordered a complete stop. Time slowed down before the beast, now blown out of proportion with grotesquely large forearms, howled as it charged the army. The covenant, not realizing what they had unleashed, shot plasma, but it seemed to dissipate long before any of it made contact with the creature. Fuel rod guns were fired, but many were swept aside. The few that made contact seemed to ripple against him, but they made no affect. The creature slammed into the enemy as it ripped apart the covenant.

"It's seems annoyed, doesn't it?" A figure in a black hooded cloak watched the creature with a smirk. I sighed, "Father." The figure removed his hood only to reveal a blackface with that shined with the cosmos. One filled with mirth… and concern. I turned back to the thing; it was finished with the covenant and moved onto wraiths. I watched as it smashed the hood of one before pulling out the screaming gunner, tossing the unlucky covenant like a javelin. A volley of mortars hit the creature but it was completely unharmed. It roared in anger before picking up the damaged wraith and tossing it at the other ones, charging towards the remaining covenant. All the while the scarabs raining down plasma bombs.

I had my suspicions, but I wanted to be sure, "Father, what is that thing?" I asked. He watched the creature with sorrow in his eyes, "Perseus, that creature, it is you." I sighed, I was correct, "How?" Chaos shook his head, "Perseus, everyone has darkness inside them, but only one thing can bring it out. Overwhelming grief, son, if I could take back everything you've been through and make it right, I would, but you've lost everything… there's nothing I can do."

I shook my head, "I don't blame you, but what can I do? I have nothing left, nowhere to go, I-I-I have no one." I collapsed, reluctantly letting a few tears to be shed. Chaos enveloped me in a hug, but I didn't notice, I was absorbed in grief. A voice appeared in my head, "You've lost," it whispered, "You lose." It cackled. Another voice appeared, "Grief is an illusion," it stated "Nothing matters." Right then in there, everything came full circle, I stopped crying, knowing it to be true. "Father. I'm insane. I've lost it." Chaos only gripped me tighter. "I know. I'm sorry." A single tear fell down his face as a supernova appeared with a bang on his face. The creator, my father, was crying.

"Perseus. You've struggled and pulled through, with terrifying losses, but your journey is far from over. I'm sorry, but the world needs your help once again." I pulled away and whipped my tears away, "Father, I have no purpose but to serve you. Tell me what to do."

My father looked strained, but he forced a smile, "Tartarus is rising. The Olympians need your assistance." I nodded, not caring what that meant. "Your wish is my command." Chaos shook his head, "Perseus, while you may believe all is lost, your love still believes in you, she has been mislead." I didn't hear him, choosing to focus on "myself." I watched as it dove through the core of a scarab, killing it with a gleeful, childish scream and an explosion. "In time, you may regain her, but you must first save her and earth. But you won't be doing it alone."

The other me, now clutching the ruined body of the general like a doll, howled, as it seemed to disappear. I buckled once again but immediately straightened, the anger I had previously felt now empty.

The world shimmered around us as we were transported to the void, into my father's room. Faces that have haunted me for as long as I can remember greeted me. Luke, Bianca, Zoe, Beckendorf, Silena, Nico. All of which smiled and looked at me, "Welcome back Shadow." I nodded once and removed my helmet, drawing stunned gasps. With a look of determination, my eyes twinkled as multiple voices began to speak at once, "Good to be back." I stated simply.

Chaos made himself known, "Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce to you, my son, the primordial of Darkness, Time, Fate and Loyalty… Perseus Jackson. Let us prepare for the war to come and usher in an era of peace."

…...

Meanwhile…

The Pillar of Autumn slowly exited orbit, as a marine walked along the decks. As he neared another soldier, he immediately lifted his hands, holding the transportation capsule of an AI. The new soldier, one who stood eight feet tall in olive green Spartan armor, barely glanced down, accepting the parcel and nodding in thanks. As the marine scrambled away, the Spartan pulled out the AI, which was stored in a memory chip, before placing it in his helmet. "Do you think he made it?" The Spartan asked in a gravelly voice, "… Cortana?" An answer sounded off, "I think we all know the answer to that, John." The Pillar quickly entered slipspace as John-117 took one last glance at the place he called "home."

…...

Somewhere in Voidiona

Two figures, one in a cloak, the other in a very professional suit used in the government of Voidiona, looked at the tragic reunion of Noble team. They watched as the son of Chaos stood still like a statue as their new "generals" tearfully embraced him.

The senator turned, "It begins." The other nodded, "We will not sit by as a couple new human recruits replace us. We will extract our revenge." The both looked at each other for a couple moments as they contemplated what they should do next, before they silently shuffled out of the room.

The senator looked around before growling, revealing his face to be that of a deformed animal, "The world once trembled at the name "Didact." They shall tremble once more." He disappeared in a flash, reappearing in a dark courtroom, to appear in front of a giant. "Tartarus." It muttered. The primordial turned, lowering a bunch of grapes it was about to stomach, it turned and nodded with curiosity. The Didact smiled, "I have some invaluable news for you." Tartarus turned his head, "Is that so?" The Didact nodded, "But that news comes with a price." It bared its teeth in a cruel smile. "It seems that your brother has fallen into the depths of insanity, into your realm." Tartarus grinned, baring fangs the size of cars, "Is that so? How intriguing." The Didact's smile grew as he revealed the details of the esteemed son of Chaos.

A.N. The first book. Its finished. I would like to thank all those who have read, favorite, followed and reviewed this story, giving me the motivation to keep writing. I want you to know, and I can't stress this anymore, that it means a lot. This series wouldn't have made it past the first chapter had it not been for the love and dedication you've given me. For what it's worth… Thank you.

I have a sequel planned, but it is going to take a while to write, in the mean time, I'm willing to write some canon one shots for my story, like scouting missions and Percy growing into his domains, with a little romance thrown in there.

If I make it to 55 reviews, I publish one. Keep in mind that this is now a Percy Jackson and the Olympians only category story, sorry Halo, but I'm not really using another character except the Didact, but I digress.

Keep a look out for the next book, good-bye for now.

-Ipods-And-Buds-1239


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